Two Women with Type 2 Diabetes Change Their Lifestyles and Change Their Lives

Jacksonville, Florida, November 6, 2007 -- In observance of National Diabetes Awareness Week, November 4-10, 2007, Baptist Health presents the stories of two women with type 2 diabetes who changed their lives through healthy eating and exercise. Both changed the course of their disease and their lives and were nominated for the 2007 Start! Lifestyle Change Award, which is sponsored by Baptist Health and recognizes First Coast residents who work hard to improve their health and quality of life.

Martha Clark
It took Lifestyle Award Winner Martha Clark 29 years of living with type 2 diabetes to seek consistent diabetes education, the input of a dietitian and start an exercise program.

Unfortunately for Clark, the years of non-managed diabetes caused proliferative retinopathy, a disorder of the retina where the blood vessels are so damaged that they close up, and she lost her eyesight.

Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes after the birth of her youngest son, Clark says, "I was told to watch my diet, take my medicine and I'd be fine." Her family moved often so a doctor's care and diabetes education were sporadic.

Two things motivated her to make lifestyle changes: her blindness which was entirely related to diabetes and a trip to New York. "I was living with my son, Kenneth, because I couldn't take care of myself," remembers Clark. "He told me that we were going to New York for Christmas and I knew that I had to get my legs moving."

Clark joined Sundance Fitness on Monument Road and started taking fitness classes. She relies on public transportation via the JTA Connexion for disabled citizens to get her to her daily workout sessions.

She learned skills from Independent Living for the Adult Blind (ILAB) so she could move to her own apartment instead of depending on her son's care.

She also went to diabetes education classes offered by her doctor and worked with a dietitian to learn healthy eating tips. She now checks her blood sugar four times a day.

"I've had things explained to me and learned more than I have in years," says Clark. "If I had known then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have lost my eyesight."

Her advice to others with the disease? "Listen to your doctors, ask questions, read up on diabetes and make sure that you work with a dietitian," she says. "It's a constant job and I've had to push myself, but it's worth it."

Before her lifestyle change, Clark says she was tired, had no energy, never wanted to move and spent a lot of her time sleeping.

Now, 33 pounds lighter and several dress sizes smaller, Clark says, "I can't sit still!"

Shelley Helinsky
For Shelley Helinsky, weight has always been an issue. "I was a chunky child, but not really heavy," she recalls. However, at age eight, her mother paid her to lose weight. "In high school, I was on a special diet even though I swam, played golf, was in the band and was very active."

Helinsky, who was a nominee for the Start! Lifestyle Change Award, knows what it's like to be in the fishbowl of overweight people, with the medical and health complications, shortness of breath, lack of energy, depression and lack of desire to change. "I remember thinking, this is just how I'm going to be," remembers Helinsky, age 35.

"I gained 100 pounds with my first child and it never went away," says Helinsky, who also struggled with gestational diabetes during all three pregnancies.

"After the third baby, the diabetes didn't go away," she says. She had type 2 diabetes and, depressed and bored, she ate for a comfort that never came. The scale finally tipped at 347 pounds.

Along with diabetes, her weight caused high blood pressure and two herniated discs. "I couldn't easily walk from one room to another," says Helinsky. Doctors told her that without a change in her weight and health, she wouldn't live to see age 45.

So, Helinsky and her husband joined the Williams YMCA and started a program called "The Biggest Loser." A 10-week program, by the time she had finished her second 10-week stint, she had lost 70 pounds. "I helped run the second program and now I run the program that we've renamed 'Commit to be Fit.'"

To date, she has lost more than 125 lbs., her cholesterol level is great, there is no more high blood pressure, and she manages her diabetes without medications.

Helinsky tries to eat about 1,500 calories daily with plenty of protein, fruits and veggies. "My family has started to follow this pattern," she says. "It is huge to see how weight loss, better nutrition and fitness have affected my life and their lives."

Her goal is to help others with weight loss and life change. Helinsky believes that the most critical part of getting fit is making the decision to do so. "No one can make that change until they are ready," she explains. "I will be there for support, but you've got to want it."

For more information on this year's Start! Lifestyle Change Award winners, visit ebaptisthealth.com/lifestyle.