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TEAM EFFORT: 700 take part in Canfield walk to stop diabetes
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Anastasia and Emmanuel Pilatos of Campbell hold their 15-month-old son George, who is suffering from diabetes, as part of team T1 Destroyers.
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
CANFIELD
The arts and crafts building at the fairgrounds was full, but there wasn’t a craft in sight.
Instead, music was playing, kids were having their faces painted, and about 700 people were registering for the Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes.
The Step Out Walk is the American Diabetes Association’s largest signature event, said Jill Pupa, executive director of the American Diabetes Association in Northeast Ohio.
Step Out events take place throughout the country during October.
“It’s a fundraiser, but it’s also a day to celebrate and recognize those that live with diabetes and their day-to-day struggles,” Pupa said. “That’s really the reason why we’re here, to really recognize what it takes to live with this chronic, systemic, potentially fatal disease day in and day out. There’s no vacation from diabetes.”
At Sunday’s event, vendors passed out water bottles and tote bags, as well as information. Refreshments were available. Many participants walked dogs or pushed children in strollers.
Most sported T-shirts announcing they were team members for a loved one with diabetes. Others displayed stickers that said, “I’m walking for ...,” filled in with the name of a loved one with the disease.
Mindy Test of Niles and Amber Brode of Austintown wore T-shirts that announced they were part of “Team Emily.” The pair walked to support a co-worker’s 5-year-old daughter who is living with Type I diabetes.
This was their first time participating in the walk.
It’s important to raise awareness about diabetes, Test said.
“It’s always good to get out and do something,” she added.
Brode said she hopes the event will help find a cure for the disease.
Melissa Keeley of Mineral Ridge walked because the disease hit close to home. Her sister, Melanie Gadley of Niles, has had Type I diabetes since she was a child. And recently, Keeley’s 13-year-old son, Dillan, was diagnosed with Type II diabetes.
All three participated in the event, as did Gadley’s sons, Luke, 3, and Hunter, 4.
“We participate every year, as a group,” Keeley said. “I’m tired of watching my sister have to take insulin and carry glucose with her. And my son just found out he was diabetic and we’re just trying to get him reversed.”
Dillan has Type II diabetes; Gadley has Type I.
The event is “fantastic, it’s a lot of fun,” Keeley said. “There’s music and dancing and all kinds of freebies.”
Gadley brought her sons for the first time this year.
“I think it’s good to support each other and come out here and raise money to help your family members and friends to put an end to this disease,” she said.
She hopes the money raised will find ways to prevent diabetes, as well as help those with Type II reverse the illness, and to better treat those with Type I.
About 700 people participated in the event at the Canfield Fairgrounds, raising approximately $85,000.
The money raised funds for diabetes research, educational and informational programs, and advocacy efforts.
The annual event has taken place in the Youngstown area for 20 years.