POISON singer Bret Michaels joined Senator Richard Roth at a hearing at California State Capitol on a bill meant to improve education in California schools about type 1 diabetes.
He said:
“As a type 1 diabetic since the age of six, and now at the age of 56, it is so important, this Senate bill, 138, to pass this through. Education and empowerment is everything.
“For me, as a child, I was diagnosed at the age of six, and was extremely, extremely sick, and no one understood what it was because there was no education on it. As a diabetic, your blood sugar level can rise extremely high. Mine got up to almost 800, which was putting me into a ketoacidosis level. Because of the un-education on it, my family, as much as they loved me, though I had the flu or [was] dehydrated. [I was] misdiagnosed by the school nurse, doctors.
“When I got the hospital, I spent almost a month in the hospital once they diagnosed and were able to start to correct the high blood sugar level.
“It is a very, very deadly disease if left undiagnosed.
“I think it is such a strong bill, this bill, to educate and let everyone know.
“If you have that empowerment and that knowledge that we talk about and the ability to educate people and them to go in and be able to check their blood sugar — it could be as simple as a finger stick, and it shows any kind of elevated level at all — it gives them a chance to immediately be able to prepare themselves to do something about it.
“Like the shirt says in our campaign, if you know… have knowledge is power. Next is being able to survive that impact, because it does not just impact the child, with you now with diabetes, the whole family — everybody — is impacted. And then, all of a sudden, to be able to thrive, you wanna live an unbelievably great life — you wanna have that chance. And I say please consider this so that we are not victims but victors.”