When I was four, my father (age 36) died of diabetes related complications (kidney failure) after a lifetime of insulin dependency. When I was 14, my younger brother was diagnosed with diabetes and after years of injections now uses an insulin pump. I have several uncles who are diabetic. One of them passed away less than a year ago after battling diabetes for most of his life.
I would like to dedicate this travel bug to the memory of my father, to the memory of my uncle, in celebration of my brother and uncles, and in the hope of finding a cure for the millions still afflicted by this disease.