Halle Berry is in the news this week for her new role in the movie 'Shoes Addicts Anonymous'. When we think of Halle Berry we think of an empowered and successful women who has accomplished an extraordinary amount in her young life. We also think of a woman who is living with diabetes.
In 1989, during the taping of Living Dolls, a short lived television series, the actress lapsed into a coma and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The American Diabetes Association estimates that 500,000 to 1 million people in the US have this condition. Type 1 diabetes is a disorder caused by autoimmune distruction of the insulin secreting cells of the pancreas resulting in the body's inability to produce sufficient insulin to meet bodily needs.
Diabetes caught me completely off guard,” she explains.
"None of my family had suffered from the illness and although I was slightly overweight in school, I thought I was pretty healthy.
"I fell ill - dramatically - when I was on the TV show, Living Dolls, in 1989. I felt I needed energy but I didn't even have a minute to pop out and get a chocolate bar. I didn't really know what was wrong."
Since then Berry has used her fame to help others living with the condition. In 2004, she became the first national ambassador of the National Diabetes Education - Diabetes Aware Campaign with the support of the Entertainment Industry Foundation and Novo Nordisk.
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