Tax Appeal 2011

Remember the days when you woke up feeling vigorous, healthy and energetic? Wasn't it great?

You see that wonderful, lively, never-ending energy in children all the time. If only we could have it as adults!

The reality is that most people can have that sense of vigour and good health.

Judy does, even though she is in her 60's and has diabetes, diagnosed 30 years ago, when she was in her mid-30's.

The diabetes wasn't totally unexpected. Her mother was diagnosed with diabetes at 40 and she had a similar body shape. Her brother, sister and father had it too, although her father's wasn't diagnosed until after his death.

But it was still a shock. At first, like many of us diagnosed with a chronic condition, she didn't take it very seriously. Then over the years she developed insulin resistance and gained weight. A lot of weight.

One day she woke up and suddenly realised how dreadfully unwell she was. Judy knew she needed help. So she enrolled in one of Diabetes SA's 'Moving Towards Wellness' classes. It went for 6 weeks, with one session a week.

"It got me back on track, and now it keeps me there," Judy says. And she did a healthy shopping course, to learn how to shop for diabetes friendly foods. "The shopping course is brilliant," she reported.

And she attends every seminar she can given by our health professionals on managing diabetes.

These days, Judy is a facilitator of Diabetes SA 'Moving Towards Wellness' classes. She enjoys volunteering and providing the same support which helped her.

She watches her diet and exercises "a bit, not as much as I should," she says.

But now, she is 45 kilos lighter and feeling a heck of a lot better. Go Judy!

Judy is a great example of what your support does for people with diabetes. It can be really tough managing a chronic condition on your own. It's hard to make major life changes in isolation and without support.

Your gift now of $75, is enough to provide free access to education sessions that can be the beginning of a huge change in the life of someone with diabetes, a change that could save their life.

Would you give $75 to change the life of someone else like Judy? It could even help you.

An even more generous gift of $120 is enough to fund a person to attend the 6 week 'Moving Towards Wellness' course that Judy said so changed her life.

Right now we need to raise $72,000 to fund a range of health-giving programs for people with diabetes by the end of this financial year on 30 June. Would you make a tax-deductible gift now of $50, or even $75 or $120?

Your gift will not only help fund healthy living and wellness resources for adults, you'll help provide a range of support for younger people and children with diabetes, both type 1 and type 2.

Living with a chronic condition is one thing if you're an adult. But if you're 6 – or 16 – you have to deal with being different to your friends, perhaps not being able to eat or do what they do and deal with things like blood glucose monitoring and management of hypos.

That's why we also fund kid's camps, special support groups for parents and children and education packages for teachers in schools where there are children with diabetes.

• $35 will put potentially life-saving information into the hands of a teacher.
• $50 is enough to provide a child and their parents with a group activity.
• $120 is enough to fund participation in the 6 week 'Moving Towards Wellness' course.
• $310 can send a child with diabetes to a kid's camp.

Whatever you can give now will do a person with diabetes a great deal of good. So please, give as much as you can.

Donate online today!