Virginia Housewife Wins Ascencia 2004 Dream Fund

Will realize dream of publishing a book of advice and tips to help families overcome the challenges of parenting with diabetes.

Kassie Gregorio Palmer is the official 2004 winner of The Ascensia Dream Fund®, the Company’s annual contest for people with diabetes.

Palmer, a mother of two children, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 18. She aims to give other parents the courage and inspiration to self-manage their diabetes to preserve their health and wellness while raising a family.

“Maintaining control of my blood sugar while caring for my young sons has been a slow and steady battle, fought daily with self-monitoring, an insulin pump, and support from friends and family,” said Palmer. “Along the way, my own challenges and ideas, in combination with tips and tricks from my circle of friends with diabetes, have taught me about parenting with diabetes and made a huge difference in my diabetes control. I want to show parents with diabetes that giving love and care to their children does not mean they need to compromise the management of their own diabetes, and that they are not alone in their daily struggles to balance family, work, and diabetes.”

Palmer will write from her own experiences as well as from the experiences of others with diabetes, including women who have given birth, adoptive parents, step-parents and fathers. Topics might range from finding ways to remember to monitor blood sugars to managing fears that their children may develop diabetes.

“When I was pregnant, I was blessed with an enormous amount of information and attention to help me manage my diabetes,” said Palmer. “But after my children were born, I felt like I fell off a cliff because there was a real lack of information about how to juggle my own self-monitoring, nutrition and exercise needs, while assuming the overwhelming task of caring for a young child. My dream is to write a book that will fill that vital need for other parents like me.

The book will be available for World Diabetes Day in November 2005. For more information about how to obtain a copy of the book and how to enter into The 2005 Ascensia Dream Fund® contest, log on to www.AscensiaDreamFund.com.

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