I // £ooop.30 • | By Paul Kirby Living a long, full and rich life with diabetes Bill Hunt at age 69 has by his own account had a fulland rich life. He is an author who sells books acrossNorth America, has taught history at high schools throughout Ontario, was managing director of the Dixie Lee fast food chain, owns a publishing company, and holds a private pilot's license. And every day for 55 years he has lived with the knowledge that if he does not closely watch his diet, monitor his health, and take his medication twice daily, he runs the risk of going blind, loosing limbs, suffer- ing a heart attack, or dying. Hunt has diabetes. He will always have diabetes. He will not "grow out of it", nor is there is a cure for the disease for now. Hunt suffers from type 1 Diabetes, also known as Insulin- Dependent or Juvenile Diabetes. (The latter got its name because it usually starts in children or young adults, and the name is still used today.) In this form of diabetes, a person's pancreas produces little or no insulin. Although the causes for this are not entirely known, scientists Hunt's first book "Booze, Boats and Billions " was published by McClelland and Stewart in 1988 and was a Canadian best seller. In 1995, Dundurn Press published "Whisky and Ice" the story of Ben Kerr who the Americans dubbed 'King of the Rum Runners'. Of the 36 new titles released by Dundurn in 1995, this was their best seller. Most recently, Hunt has written "Gentleman Charlie and the Lady Rum Runner". Published in June 1999, it has since sold out two editions and has now been released in a third edition. Hunt is not slowing down: he will publish next year "Dockside Democracy" which explores the women's movement and a club which banned entry to women from its inception in 1913 until 1988. believe that the body's own defense sys- tem (the immune system) attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Because insulin is neces- sary for life, people with type 1 diabetes must take one or more injections of insulin every day in order to metabolise their food. Before the discovery of insulin in 1921, people with type 1 diabetes would fall into a diabetic coma and die, usually within a few weeks of onset. In type 2, or Non-Insulin-Dependent or Adult-Onset, Diabetes, the pancreas still produces insulin, but for some reason the body is not able to use it effectively. So, in spite of the presence of adequate amounts of insulin, blood glucose levels are not nor- mal. Fortunately, type 2 diabetes can be treated in a variety of ways, including weight loss - many type 2's are over- weight, proper diet, reduced sugar intake and exercise. More severe cases