Local residents strive to beat diabetes, one step at a time
By Virginia J. Pillsbury
At 8 a.m. on November 7, Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes, also called Walk on the Wild Side, will take place at the Jacksonville Zoo. The walk, sponsored by the American Diabetes Association, will attract about 2,000 walkers on 200 teams.
According to Step-Out coordinator Amanda Intravaia, the fundraising goal for this year is $350,000. That money helps fund research, programs and awareness for diabetes. This year’s walk will also recognize and honor walkers who have diabetes. The Red Striders will have a special edition red hat and will celebrate the day at a party tent sponsored by Pfizer.
Intravaia, who is 24-years-old, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age four. “It is inspirational to me to see so many people coming together to fight something that I’ve lived with for twenty years,” she says.
Channel 4 weather man Richard Nunn is this year’s walk chair. Nunn’s passion for supporting the American Diabetes Association stems from his own family’s health challenges. “Some of them have succumbed to diabetes and some of them live with it on a daily basis,” he says. “The statistics are alarming that every few seconds someone is diagnosed with diabetes and every few minutes someone dies from the disease. I want to help find a way to pass diabetes.”
The best part about the walk for Nunn is the 2,000 plus people who have the commonality of either having diabetes or walking in support of someone who does. “It is touching to be part of such a huge event that is promoting and raising awareness and money for the American Diabetes Association,” he says. “It’s a time to walk through the zoo, meet people and hear their stories. And I guess that is why I really do it; I have heard so many stories about people who live with diabetes and I want to help those stories to end. I want to hear them say ‘remember when I had diabetes’ because we have a cure.”
