    
I'm Anja, member of the Novo Nordisk Youth Panel and diagnosed with type 1 diabetes seven years ago.
Today, the Changing Diabetes bus visited the Danish Parliament, Christiansborg. Since I am from Denmark, I have been looking forward to this day. Launching the Changing Diabetes Bus at the Media Roundtable yesterday was great – but getting the chance to get nearer to Danish politicians and the American Ambassador in Denmark and test their blood sugar level seemed great! I can inform you all that the Danish Minister of Interior and Health, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, had a perfectly normal blood sugar level – so we did not find a new person with diabetes in him.
After the VIPs had left together with their security crews, it all came down to earth again. A man and his wife had passed by incident. The man had had type 1 diabetes for 30 years – the wife of course remembered the date, just as she clearly remembers her concerns when their son, diagnosed with type 1 at age 13, started going to parties and getting drunk. The concerns are a lot greater because of his diabetes, she assured me.
Rushing in shortly before the bus closed down for the day, came Svend Auken – one of the “grand old men” in Danish politics and a leading social-democrat Member of Parliament. After a quick check of his blood sugar, he started talking about diabetes and heard about the bus. He showed a great knowledge of the problems regarding diabetes, also in the developing world. Since I have type 1 diabetes, I found it particularly interesting that he raised the issue of type 1 getting overlooked in the effort of raising awareness on prevention of type 2 diabetes. This is one of my favorite points as well – the balance is difficult.
Finally, the great news. Svend Auken today learned that his cleaning lady through many years has diabetes. He urged this kind older lady to have her blood sugar tested. The reply? “I do that several times every day myself! I know I have diabetes”. I hope she will express her strong opinions on the necessity of information about diabetes to Svend Auken as well, after she has told me everything.
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