“The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes: Family Strategies for Raising a Healthy Child” Chronicles a Successful, Unconventional, and Sound Approach to Juvenile Diabetes.

“The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes: Family Strategies for Raising a Healthy Child” Chronicles a Successful, Unconventional, and Sound Approach to Juvenile Diabetes.

Laura Plunkett provides original strategies for creating optimal health
for children with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.

MARBLEHEAD, MA (September 15, 2006) Recently published "The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes: Family Strategies for Raising a Healthy Child"(www.challengeofdiabetes.com) chronicles how one mother’s unconventional, successful, and sound approach helped her child consistently achieve near-normal blood sugar levels, an accomplishment the magazine Diabetes Positive calls “something rare in pediatric endocrinology”.

Written by award-winning author, Linda Weltner, and Laura Plunkett, a psychotherapist, The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes is an invaluable resource for parents, extended family, friends, teachers, neighbors, medical professionals, and others who want to provide optimal care for children with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association recommends children’s HbA1c numbers stay under 7.0 to avoid long-term complications. The U.S. average for children with diabetes is 8.5. A recent study by the Yale Pediatric Diabetes Program proved that intensive therapy could reduce it to 7.6. Danny Plunkett has been between 6.2 and 6.8 for the past 2 years. Normal children are between 4.5 and 6.5.

The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes is a day-by-day and month-by-month chronicle designed to bring distraught families from crisis to confidence. This warm, humorous and poignant book presents not only a mother’s point of view but also the unique perspectives of three generations, providing original strategies for improving nutrition and making use of alternative treatments as well as dealing with sibling rivalry, non-cooperation, fathering, and exercise.

The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes is the friend, coach, and consultant that the family of every newly-diagnosed child will turn to on a daily basis.

Danny
When seven-year-old Danny was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, his mother, Laura, desperately searched for ways to cope with his life-threatening disease. Struggling to manage her anxiety over wildly-fluctuating blood sugar numbers, to transform her reluctant family’s diet, and to educate friends and teachers, over time she found new and original ways to help Danny attain excellent blood sugar control and a new, comfortable sense of normal.

The Epidemic of Childhood Diabetes
”Diabetes is one of the biggest health catastrophes the world has ever seen,” said Dr. Martin Silink, president-elect of the International Diabetes Federation. Over the last two decades, the number of people with diabetes has climbed from 30 million to 230 million, claiming millions of lives. Each year in the U.S. more than 13,000 young people are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. IDF’s 2003 report shows that 2% of the world's children suffer from Type 1, with 65,000 newly diagnosed cases per year.

Challenging the Paradigm and Winning
“Repeatedly, we struggled against the belief that limiting your child’s food choices can cause eating disorders,” says Plunkett. “All I know is that it hasn’t happened in our family. I have seen that our family’s present whole food diet has a huge effect on blood sugars and on our family's feelings of well-being. Although the transition was tough, once we were all eating a more complex- and reduced-carbohydrate diet, we felt better. Both my children are maintaining healthy weights and seem to be relatively unconcerned about body image. The results for Danny are a stronger immune system, fewer mood swings, an enhanced sense of well-being, more energy, and smaller blood sugar fluctuations.”

The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes, published by Orion Star Press, is a 168-page paperback including A Survival Guide for Parents, an instant summary for those seeking immediate support and a head start on a new emotional perspective. The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes is available for $15.95 through www.challengeofdiabetes.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and selected bookstores.


About The Authors
Laura Plunkett has a BA in Psychology with Honors from Brown University and had a thriving therapeutic private practice for fourteen years with families, individuals and couples in Marblehead, MA. A member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, her avocation since her son's diagnosis has been doing research on nutrition and the latest developments in diabetes. Ms. Plunkett is also a public speaker on the topic of "Raising Wholesome Children in a Fast-Food World: A Framework for Creating Family Health."

Linda Weltner, Laura’s mother, is a former Boston Globe columnist and the author of two young adult novels and two collections of her columns. She was awarded the Best Columnist Award by the New England Women’s Press Association. A popular public speaker, she received the Gold Award by the National Mature Media Awards.

Other contributors are attorney and father, Brian Plunkett, older sister, Jessie Plunkett, now 15, psychiatrist and grandfather, Jack Weltner, MD, and Danny Plunkett himself, now a healthy 12-year-old.

For a copy of the book and to download the press kit, please visit www.challengeofdiabetes.com. To schedule interviews with the authors or for additional information, contact Vanessa Childs at Vanessa@challengeofdiabetes.com or call 617-838-9456.

Special Note: November is National Diabetes Month and the authors are available for expert resource interviews, byline contributions, and excerpts from the book.

Contact: Vanessa Childs
Vanessa@challengeofdiabetes.com 617.838.9456
www.challengeofdiabetes.com