Your body is a temple. — 1st Corinthians 6:19
In keeping with the monthly theme, and as a reminder of how Type 2 diabetes works, I thought it wise to remind everyone during this Thanksgiving week to proceed with caution. November is National Diabetes Month — let this column be your reminder. Pay close attention to your diet and exercise.
My concern about what happened to my mother is why I won’t stop talking about this matter. Losing my mother in such a brutal manner reshaped my future. It was like a cause-and-effect movement for me. I felt compelled to begin to teach masses of people by newspaper and radio about the causes and effects of Type 2 diabetes. Mom’s story has gone around the world. In searching Google, I found her story online in many countries around the world, and in different languages.
After studying, learning and teaching about Type 2 diabetes from as far back as 24 years ago, and becoming an official “ambassador” for the National Diabetes Association, and helping others via mass media, my life has not been the same.
My mother suffered for 12 years with Type 2 diabetes and with many complications as a result of her having had this disease. None of her family knew what was happening, nor did we understand, not even a tiny bit. Both legs amputated, several major strokes, high blood pressure, kidney failure. We finally lost Mother Fannie Estelle Grant on Christmas Day 2000, the year I graduated with my B.A. degree in the field of communications. It felt like what David Ruffin’s song says: “My whole world had ended, the moment you left me!”
Five years later, it was graduation time for me from my graduate school, Trinity University in Washington, D.C. “Your Body Is Indeed a Temple” was the topic of my master’s thesis, which talked about creating a teaching campaign on this very subject and my plans to take this campaign national. When I graduated, my national campaign topic was to be called “Stop Fanning the Flames of the Diabetes Epidemic.”
Dr. Mello, chairman of the first graduating group in the field of communications at Trinity University, told us, “I expect each of you to create campaigns that are real, and they can someday become national!”
Dr. Mello, I’m proud to tell you that my campaign is now national, published by the National Newspaper Publishers Association and Black Press USA! Plus, prior to COVID-19, my company hosted Wellness Circles in the O’Conner Auditorium at Trinity University on Michigan Avenue, and in my church, All Nations Baptist Church here in Washington, D.C. These workshops were for low-income residents who have diabetes and high blood pressure. I’m proud to have been selected by AmeriHealth Caritas DC. This exciting training ended for me and a few others due to COVID several years ago. However, I continue to utilize my radio show and this newspaper column to keep this message going. As the song says, “If I can help somebody, along the way, then my living shall not be in vain.”
Mother lost both of her legs to amputations and suffered kidney failure and several strokes, with the first major stroke leaving her paralyzed. She ended up in Howard University Hospital, and that’s when they discovered she had Type 2 diabetes. Our family lived together, we worked together in business, and now we were going through this battle for life with our mother together.
Throughout our lives, we had been blessed, becoming successful businesswomen, doing exactly what our mother encouraged us to do. We’d had lots of success in the mass media, publicizing several major events such as Georgia Avenue Day, with 100,000 people, corporate sponsors and celebrities; two presidential inaugurations, Republican and Democrat; two D.C. mayoral inaugurations and three D.C. Council member campaigns. We became close to several D.C. politicians, all of whom we will love forever! Now, though, it was time to spread this message to the masses, and this, my friend, is what I will continue to do for the rest of my life!
Not understanding what happened to Mother, we wondered if we could have done something differently. We didn’t know how an improved diet with extremely limited amounts of sugar with major reductions in eating carbohydrates and getting regular physical exercise could have made a difference in her life. Now that I’ve learned from her doctor, from research, from the National Institute of Health, from Johns Hopkins and American Diabetes Association and others, I have shared this good news with you!
For those of you who refuse to follow the rules, Type 2 diabetes can be associated with serious complications such as losing toes, a foot, legs and more. Plus it brings on premature death, as in the case of my mom.
On the other hand, by taking measures to reduce the likelihood of such devastating effects, you will be the winner!
Enjoy your Thanksgiving meal, as you utilize recipes that are healthy and tasty!
Lyndia Grant is a speaker/writer living in the D.C. area. Her radio show, “Think on These Things,” airs Fridays at 6 p.m. on 1340 AM (WYCB), a Radio One station. To reach Grant, visit her website, www.lyndiagrant.com, email lyndiagrantshowdc@gmail.com or call 240-602-6295. Follow her on Twitter @LyndiaGrant and on Facebook.
