A sea of blue candles...

Saturday 29th January 2011 was a sad day for the diabetic online community. As I turned on facebook I was met by many status updates saying the same, profile pictures changed to show a sea of blue candles, so I knew what had happened. Diabetes had once again shown its dark side.
Five separate families, united in their grief, each having lost a loved one, lives cut short, all because of diabetes.

• A 24 year old Australian woman had passed away from DKA
• A 27 year old mother of two.
• A 16 year old boy
• A 9 year old, depressed, so took her own life
• A 18 month old who was misdiagnosed.

This is not meant to happen, children are not meant to be misdiagnosed, children are not meant to be taking their own lives, children are not meant to be dying, adults are not meant to be dying. Not now, not in 2011, not with all of the advances in medicine that we have.

The diabetic community light their candles and say a prayer for those that have been lost, but are thankful that it is not them, that they are the lucky ones. Always aware in the back of their minds that next time it could be them. In the early hours of the morning parents will be checking on their children, testing blood sugars and treating if needed.
When these things happen the fear that we try and put to the back of our minds come back to the forefront, and the biggest question we ask is why? Why does this continue to happen? Why do people not know the signs? Why do people still not understand how serious diabetes is? It is a life threatening illness, a life taking illness.
More needs to be done to raise awareness, more research needs to be done. The time has come for a cure to be found.
For those five families it will come too late, but for the rest of us it can't come soon enough.