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During a recent trip to Cleveland, I had the privilege of meeting a devoted husband and father, who also happens to be the co-founder of Diabetes Daily – David Edelman. During our conversation, he shared his love for his wife and the journey they are on together in generating awareness, education, and support for the diabetes community. Learning about their story and hearing about some upcoming projects, I just knew I had to feature David in a blog post. Lucky for me, David agreed to do an interview. Read what he had to say.

Q. When did you start to get involved in the diabetes community?

Six years ago when, my future wife, Elizabeth was diagnosed with diabetes. She had just moved back to Cleveland, where I’m originally from, and we met right afterwards. I knew nothing about diabetes and she was recently diagnosed and still learning about it. We had this period where we were falling in love with each other, while learning how to manage diabetes together.

Neither of us knew anyone with Type 1 diabetes, so Elizabeth started reaching out online and found a vibrant community of people talking about everything she was experiencing. Knowing and recognizing how much this connection helped her, we wanted to create a place where others could connect with others, ask questions, share information and resources and give each other support on a day-to-day basis. That’s how we ended up with Diabetes Daily.

Q. Diabetes Daily has grown exponentially over the past few years. Can you share some of your interesting findings?

Fundamentally, diabetes is incredibly isolating. If you have Type 1 diabetes, you probably don’t know anyone who truly understands what you’re going through. Even if you have Type 2, it’s not something people talk about. One of the most frequent comments is – “I’m just so glad I’m not alone. I felt so lonely and isolated, and knowing that there are others with this experience lifts a tremendous weight off my shoulders.”

For us, that is an amazing and powerful statement to hear. For those looking in, you see someone who looks healthy, but within, you have so much turbulence. The practical side of diabetes management is important, but the emotional support is such a critical component that is often missed.

Q. Was there anything that surprised you?

What surprises me most about Diabetes Daily is the vast array of how people approach diabetes. In our community, everyone comes to a singular forum with fundamentally different truths. Diabetes is so personal.  People have to make these value judgments, and that was the biggest surprise to me. People don’t realize how intensely intimate diabetes is. It’s about what you put into your mouth, how you interact with others, and your dreams.

Q. Since the launch of Diabetes Daily and the University to come, what goal or goals did you set out to achieve?

Our mission has always been to help people touched by diabetes live a better life. What that means is two components – we want people to be healthier and we want people to be happier. Our long-term vision is to build the most effective platform to help people living with diabetes change their behavior and habits in a positive way, while also helping with the emotional aspects of a chronic illness. If we can achieve both of these things, we would have achieved what we’ve set out to do.

Thank you David…for sharing information about this wonderful resource you have created for people living with diabetes. David and Elizabeth have also been working on a project called Diabetes Daily University that’s scheduled to launch soon. We’ll ask him more questions about the University then, so stay tuned!

Click to learn more about Diabetes Daily. And, if you have any additional questions for David, please let us know by leaving us a comment.

All the Best,

Laura K.

Disclosure: David received no compensation for this post. All opinions contained in this post reflect those of the interviewee, and not of sanofi-aventis U.S., its employees, agencies or affiliates.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 28th, 2011 at 5:00 am and is filed under General. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.