Hundreds march in Canfield to raise money, awareness for diabetes

CANFIELD - Aside from taking daily insulin shots and having his blood sugar levels checked several times a day, Danny Martin lives a life typical in many respects of most 12-year-olds.

Having been diagnosed with diabetes at age 4 has done little to slow down Danny, a seventh-grader at St. Charles School in Boardman. He plays football, basketball and baseball.

And that’s precisely the point, Danny and his mother, Megan Basile, say.

“Diabetes doesn’t hold him back,” Basile said. “We have a huge support system.”

Many members of that support network wore green shirts with Danny’s name attached and were among several hundred people who participated in Sunday’s Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes event at the Canfield Fairgrounds.

Danny, his parents and numerous relatives and friends made up Danny’s Dream Team, one of about 50 teams that walked to raise awareness of the disease as well as money for the American Diabetes Association.

Read the full story with photographs Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.