The Black Diamond Ride to Cure Diabetes, a fund-raiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, was staged last Saturday. Claire Holder, who rides in such events to help battle the disease with which she herself suffers, wrote the following about her experiences as a Type 1 diabetic.

My name is Claire Holder. I am 33 years old and live in Enumclaw. I have lived with Type 1 diabetes for the last nine years. I was diagnosed when I was 24. It came as a big surprise, since 24 is quite old to be diagnosed with this disease and I was not an individual that would even be considered a risk for this medical mystery.

From that day on, my life changed. I scheduled everything by meals and cringed when I gave myself even one of my 10 daily shots of insulin needed for my body to accept the food that I was so strategically eating.

I was never one to pay attention to what carbohydrate were or even look at how many calories I was eating. I‘d always been active in many sports and loved doing anything physically challenging.

But now my life consists of planning out my activities. Two hours prior to doing an activity, I have to eat enough carbs to raise my glucose readings high enough so that I don’t drop low during the activity and go into a seizure. Then, to participate in any physical activity for more than 15 minutes, I have to poke my finger and take my reading continuously every 15 minutes for the rest of the activity. Yes, it is a lot of work and dedication. But it’s worth it to me to have the freedom to continue to be physically active.

I have never understood why I got this disease, but I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. About five years ago I started getting involved with other Type 1 diabetics and to help find the cure for this disease. This year, I decided to ride my road bike in The Ride for the Cure with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Whitefish, Mont. The ride is over 100 miles long, and since I have never pedaled over 20 miles at one time, this is a big goal for me. Recently, I noticed pain in my leg when cycling. It turns out the leg I’d broken back in September 2007 hadn’t healed properly. On Aug. 1, I went in for surgery to fix the problem. As a result, I won’t be able to participate in the 2008 Whitefish ride, but I have my eyes set on the 2009 Whitefish ride.

I would like to spread the word about The Ride for the Cure. Please check us out at www.ride.jdrf.org for more information.