Hundreds To Take To Baltimore Streets To Cure Juvenile Type 1 Diabetes
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- The "Walk to Cure Diabetes" is designed to heal the youngest patients of Type 1 diabetes. And this weekend, hundreds will participate in Baltimore.
Gigi Barnett explains why one soldier thousands of miles away will be walking too.
Debbie Fermo has one special wish for her 5-year-old son.
"We'd like a cure for Jack," she said.
Jack Fermo has diabetes. Doctors diagnosed him with Type 1 diabetes at 3 years old-- a tough adjustment for a small kid.
"We test his blood sugar five or six times a day. So he gets insulin five or six times a day," Debbie Fermo said.
But this weekend, she will join thousands in the "Walk to Cure Diabetes." They share the same hope for the youngest patients.
The walk is a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), an organization that focuses on wiping out Type 1 diabetes which usually strikes in childhood or adolescence.
"It's a grueling disease and a very complicated disease," Kathy Burk, development director for the JDRF, said.
But the walk isn't limited to Maryland. Thousands of miles away Jack Fermo's father, Navy Commander Paul Fermo, is serving in Afghanistan. He is walking, too.
"He's like, if you're walking, we're walking. So, he's going to be over there walking it in the desert in his boots," Debbie Fermo said.
The walk starts and ends at M&T Bank Stadium and nearly 3,000 people are expected. The goal is a big one-- $800,000.
"We have some of the most prestigious medical institutions here-- Johns Hopkins is one of them. NIH is another one. A lot of that money comes back here," Burk said.
The goal is to grant a wish and find a cure.
If you'd like to participate in the walk, registration starts at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium. For more information, click here.
