Thanks to McMorris Rodgers

I want to acknowledge Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers for a letter she recently sent to House leadership calling for continued support for the Special Diabetes Program. SDP is a model government program. It truly works, having the potential to both save lives and future costs to our health care system.

In the last decade, it’s funded breakthrough research bringing children and adults better treatments, technologies and therapies to improve their quality of life, also reducing the dangerous complications caused by difficult-to-control blood sugar levels.

New statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health show an alarming 23 percent increase in Type 1 diabetes among American youth between 2001 and 2009. At that rate, the disease would double for every future generation.

As a father of a child with Type 1 diabetes, I know the impact of this disease. We must continue supporting research that will reverse the trend, better treating those living with Type 1 diabetes and perhaps even someday find a cure.

So thank you, McMorris Rodgers, for your commitment to improving lives for those with Type 1 diabetes and helping reduce the number of children who have to face it in coming years.

Todd Casey

Liberty Lake