Boy aims at drawing attention to diabetes

A New Port Richey boy is determined to gather 10,000 to 25,000 signatures in his quest to increase diabetes research funding.

By MATTHEW WAITE

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 9, 2000

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Tarek Fawaz Jr. has a goal, waiting for him to take a run at it like the football running back he dreams of becoming.

Eleven-year-old Tarek's goal is to do better than last year in a drive to get signatures asking the federal government to increase diabetes research funding.

Better means gathering more than the nearly 3,000 he collected between October and January for the American Diabetes Association.

"Ten thousand, 25,000," he said to his mother recently in their kitchen. "We could start tomorrow."

Some of Tarek's energy comes from the reward he reaped from obtaining the signatures: a trip in mid-March to Washington, D.C., where Tarek and hundreds of others gathered to meet with members of Congress and show President Clinton the nearly 3.2-million signatures they collected.

The American Diabetes Association, which sponsored the signature drive, is asking the federal government to increase spending on finding a cure for diabetes. The association says that of the $40-billion a year spent by the federal government on diabetes, only 1 percent is spent on finding a cure.

The association says nearly 16-million Americans suffer from diabetes, a disease that prevents the body from producing insulin, a hormone that converts sugars, starches and other foods to energy.

Tarek, a sixth-grader at Seven Springs Middle School, wants his younger brother Charlie, 9, and sister Randa, 8, to get their own 2,500 signatures needed to go to the nation's capital next year. With their help, Tarek dreams of 100,000 signatures, roughly three times what the top collector took in for the organization this year.

Tarek used his dad's pharmacy at Eckerd, soccer games, schools and walks around the surrounding neighborhoods to get the signatures he needed this year. With his brothers and sisters, he sees more opportunity.

Mom Brenda isn't likely to hold her kids back.

To her, more signatures mean more awareness of the disease that forces Tarek to be mindful of his blood sugar all day long. Her soccer-playing, football dreaming son must prick his finger for drops of blood a handful of times a day and likely must continue to do so until he is an old man.

"This (insulin shots and tests) is just a Band-Aid," she said. "This is taking care of what we can at the time. This isn't a cure."

-- Staff writer Matthew Waite can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is waite@sptimes.com.

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