DIABETES

To get all the information you seek about diabetes - you can find it at the Canadian Diabetes Association
Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure. It is a leading cause of death by disease in Canada.

There are three types of diabetes:

Type 1 -- occurs when the pancreas no longer produces any or very little insulin. The body needs insulin to use sugar for energy. Approximately 10 percent of people with diabetes have Type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 -- occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body does not use the insulin that is produced effectively. 90 percent of people with diabetes have Type 2.

Gestational -- is a temporary condition that occurs during pregnancy. It affects two to four percent of all pregnancies with an increased risk of developing diabetes for both mother and child.
Frank was a Type 1 diabetic - also called juvenile diabetic. He was diagnosed with this disease at the age of 15. He fought it for 2 years by exercising, so he did not have to inject insulin. For the 9 years he had to live with it - he never accepted his disease. 
Looking at the facts of diabetes, only 10% of them are of type 1. Still these 10% have a disease which is considered a leading cause by death in Canada. Considering this - it is surprising how little is known about diabetes and that hardly anybody knows the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
I, Frank's dad, was diagnosed as being a Type 2 diabetic just 12 months before Frank's death. There is no way, that I can compare my condition with the disease Frank had. I have to live by a acceptable diet, have to check from time to time my blood, lost some pounds - but I am not sick. 
People with Type 1 diabetes have to eat at a given time, check their blood every time after and inject insulin accordingly. If they don't, blindness, kidney failure and problems with blood circulation what can result in amputation, can be the outcome of it.
Therefore - from my point of view - Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes should have 2 different names. Type 2 is a condition, almost everybody can live with - Type 1 is a deadly disease.
If somebody asks me, why I would like to have the 2 different kind of diabetes separated.. I have to point to a very unpleasant experience we, the family had to deal with the day after the accident: The report of it in the Calgary Sun and on their web page. The reporter, apparently a Type 2 diabetic himself, does not even know the difference between an insulin withdrawal and an insulin reaction.