AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker TITLE: Poker Run to Raise Funds to Send Children With Diabetes to Camp DATE: 2:52 AM ----- BODY: In order to stay alive, 13-year-old Amber Keenan follows a strict medical
regimen every day. Her day begins by taking an insulin injection in the
morning. She takes another one before going to bed at night. Her day is also
fragmented into testing her sugar levels by poking her fingers at least four
times to draw blood. The ability to deal with her Type 1 juvenile diabetes
and understanding her condition didn't happen overnight. Her knowledge about
the disease and how to deal with it grew when she attended the Florida's
Diabetes Camp in DeLand for nine days last summer. On Saturday, her parents,
Linda and Rob Keenan, and her 9-year-old sister, Kelsi, will host a Sugar
Free Poker Run fundraiser to give other children and teens the same
opportunity Amber had to attend the summer camp this year.
Type 1 diabetes strikes children suddenly and makes them dependent on
injected or pumped insulin for life. Without proper management, the
condition carries the constant threat of devastating complications,
according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. While
diagnosis most often occurs in childhood and adolescence, it can and does
strike adults as well. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the
body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the
pancreas. While the causes of this process are not yet entirely understood,
scientists think that both genetic factors and environmental triggers are
involved, the foundation said. Amber's condition caught the family by
surprise because there is no history of diabetes. At the time of Amber's
diagnosis May 31, her parents couldn't afford the $500 it cost to send her
to the camp. "When Amber got diagnosed, it was real hard on us," Linda
Keenan said Thursday. "We knew the importance of sending her (to the camp).
My father and mother-in-law sponsored her attendance." A poker run is an
organized motorcycle event in which riders travel over a prescribed course
and at designated stopping points select a card. At the end of the run, the
person with the best poker hand wins a prize. All the event's proceeds will
go to the Florida's Diabetes Camp.

The camp's goal is to provide children with a fun camping experience in a
medically supervised environment to teach them good diabetes management
skills.

In the United States, about 176,500 people age 20 or younger have diabetes.
About one in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents has Type 1 diabetes,
according to the 2005 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National
Health Interview Survey.

Amber said she is happy to know her family's initiative will help other
children attend the summer camp.

"Children get to make new friends and learn how to take care of themselves,"
Amber said. "They will learn (the disease) is not that bad, and they will
get used to it."

According to a media release from the nonprofit group, nearly two-thirds of
the diabetes camp participants need financial aid. The agency is not
affiliated with any national diabetes organizations and does not receive
governmental aid.

To pay such costs as food and campground rentals, the organization is able
to survive with donations from the public. All doctors and nurses involved
also donate their time.

"It's important to recognize the job they do for these kids," Linda Keenan
said.

Between the prognosis and learning how to take care of her condition on her
own, Amber's life changed that summer.

"Her reaction at the time of her diagnosis was why it happened to me," Linda
Keenan said. "We were very sad at the time. Now she is OK and she does what
she has to do to avoid any complications because of that opportunity."

Amber is an honor roll student at Westwood Middle School. During her free
time, she enjoys horseback riding. --------