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Bicycling and Fundraising to Beat Diabetes

The 2001 Tour de Cure cycling and fundraising event is June 3rd in Stillwater, NY. It is fast approaching and 46-year-old Gregg Gerety is gearing up for his seventh annual 100-mile (century) ride for the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The daylong, family event offers routes for all ages and ability levels to raise pledges and support the ADA mission—to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.

Dr. Gerety, partner and endocrinologist at The Endocrine Group in Albany, participated in his first six years on his own. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes while a junior in college, Gerety went on to specialize in the field and is dedicated to the mission. "I'm not a serious cyclist. I'm serious about the Tour de Cure and its cause," Gerety said.

With each successive ride, Gerety became more comfortable talking about his disease and asking people for money and support. Each year his pledge total increased, and last year, he extended his reach further by creating a team. "The whole idea of the team," Gerety explained, "was to amplify the reach, and therefore amplify the message."

THE TEAM
He formed a team made up of the eleven doctors at The Endocrine Group, their family members, and a few pharmaceutical representatives. Together, in the 2000 event they raised $102,046 to be the first team to ever break the $100,000 barrier and become the top fundraising team (participating in a single location) in the nation.

"My partners and I feel a responsibility to give something back to this community and work toward a cure for the disease," Gerety said. "This is a grassroots team—without corporate backing—that reached out and received a tremendous outpouring of support from our patients and the community for this cause."

As the team leader this year, Gerety said they're shooting for $125,000—a 25 percent increase over last year's achievement. Beyond his mission to find a cure for the disease, his personal goal is to improve his health and fitness. Gerety has started his six-week training program consisting of cutting back on the "extras" in his diet and bicycling longer distances for to build his strength and endurance. He says he'll be ready to deliver on June 3rd.

"I'm a purely recreational bicyclist until it comes to the Tour de Cure, then I'm a more serious rider," explained Gerety. "My goal this year is to finish the century with a respectable time and pace myself so that I'm comfortable throughout the ride." He laughed adding, "I wouldn't mind beating the 6-1/2 hour mark either."

THE DISEASE
There are 16 million people in this country with diabetes. It's the sixth leading cause of death by disease with heart disease being the number one cause of death in this country. Gerety maintains that many of the people dying from heart disease don't have diabetes listed as the primary cause, even though as Gerety stated, "clearly the diabetes creates an adverse or sinister metabolic milieu which leads to the heart disease."

"Everyone recognizes what a heart attack is," said Gerety. "What people don't fully appreciate is that years of poorly controlled diabetes can lead to that type of heart attack."

Gerety, like many specialists, acknowledges that genetic predisposition is certainly a strong factor in developing the disease. Perhaps even stronger contributing factors are the nation's consumption of processed sugars, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, and alarming rates of obesity.

"This is an epidemic of diabetes, and I think it's fair to use that term," Gerety maintained, "with a 33% increase in Type 2 diabetes between 1990-1998 alone—genetic predisposition is secondary to lifestyle factors."

THE MESSAGE
Gerety feels strongly that to combat the problem, he needs to help his patients identify unhealthy habits, educate them to the changes they should make, and motivate them towards a regimen of self-care.

"We tend to talk about diabetes as having a 'touch of sugar'," said Gerety. "People need to become more comfortable talking about unfriendly issues, like death and illness."

Gerety strives with every patient visit to give them one take-home message about how to make a lifestyle change for the better. He hopes that by bicycling in the Tour de Cure himself, he's reinforcing his message: "Don't pass your well being on to somebody else."

Mike Mineau, the chair of the Tour de Cure for the second year, is the first cyclist to participate on the Tour's organizing committee. He has been volunteering for the ADA for about eight years. He echoes the need to help increase awareness of the disease.

"You see a lot of advertising about AIDS and Breast Cancer," Mineau said. "But, diabetes is like a silent killer. It doesn't generate a lot of publicity, yet it's plaguing populations across the globe."

THE REWARD
"People need to appreciate that you can live well with diabetes," Gerety said. "It takes time, effort, energy, and money, but the investment is well spent," he continued, "because the reward on that investment is good health."

Gerety feels his personal perspective on the disease helps foster a tremendous mutual respect between him and his patients.

"We speak the same language, so I feel like we're in this together," he explained. "I feel like I have a responsibility to follow through and deliver, and that's very inspirational to me. I never feel like I'm riding alone."

Gerety believes in his hope and his patients' hope that through pledging, to promote education and research funding, that giving will someday translate into a cure for diabetes. "The cure is not just a test tube and what happens under a microscope," said Gerety.

"It's a very rewarding feeling to cross the finish line," he continued, "knowing—not only that I did my best athletically—but that I did my best to reach out and ask for help. And in so doing, feel that I was really part of the cure."

Amy E. Tucker is a Project Editor at Delmar Thomson Learning in Albany, and is also a freelance writer focusing on sports and education.