Joslin Diabetes Center—
When the score isn't final.

"...patients can often outsmart type 2 diabetes by adopting healthy habits..."
— Roberto Izquierdo, MD,
Department of Medicine,
Division of Endocrinology

It should have been a highlight of his life, but when 13-year-old Jameel boarded the bus home from a New York Giants football game two years ago, he couldn't relax and rehash the plays. Instead, Jameel could only concentrate on quenching his excessive thirst.

The next day Jameel ended up in the emergency room, exhausted and dehydrated. His blood sugar was alarmingly high. "By all rights, he should have been in a diabetic coma," Jameel's mother remembers.

Type 2 diabetes was no stranger to Jameel. The high-honors student and gifted artist had watched the disease wreak havoc with his father's health. Determined to avoid his father's fate, Jameel turned to University Hospital's Joslin Diabetes Center, one of 25 centers in the U.S. There, he enrolled in a nationwide clinical trial known as the TODAY study (Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and Youth) funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Type 2 diabetes, a progressive disease, was once rare in children. But lack of exercise and poor eating habits are taking their toll. Thankfully, permanent damage is not inevitable. As Jameel is learning from his endocrinologist, Dr. Roberto Izquierdo, patients can often outsmart type 2 diabetes by adopting healthy habits.

Now 15, Jameel is a model participant in the local TODAY study. He's great about checking his blood sugar and taking his medication. A onceavid soda drinker, Jameel has changed his diet and lost 30 pounds. He works out regularly at the YMCA in downtown Syracuse. He's getting in shape to play football next fall at Henninger High School. And, he encourages his friends to break the sugared soda habit.

Jameel is also sharing what he's learning with his mother, who works out with her son and has lost 25 pounds. That's the best possible news for the University Hospital team of doctors, nurses and educators working to help Jameel stay active and eat right. Because fighting diabetes is a family affair.