Program Success Christian Reader September 2007 | Page 27

The Christian Reader September 2007 27
Gladys Knight
Crusades Against
Diabetes
By Dr. Ira Riley
Dental Rx
Jacksonville, Florida
Gladys Knight’s mother, Elizabeth, passed away in 1997 at
the age of 80. That’s when Ms. Knight decided to do
something to celebrate her mother’s long and eventful life.
So in 1999, in cooperation with the American Diabetes
Association, Gladys started the Elizabeth
Knight Fund. This fund is dedicated
to raising awareness about the
challenges of diabetes and
to showing people
how they can live
gratifying
and
successful lives with this disease – just as Elizabeth Knight
did.
younger brother David – who
has since passed due to
complications of diabetes – had
it, and now my older
sister Brenda has
it. She’s just like
my
mom,
doing
the
things
t h a t
you
“When we first started this fund, my brothers Bubba and
David and I used to go on tour, and we would set up lectures
for us to talk to people. And people came out and they heard
our story.”
MEET ELIZABETH KNIGHT
“My mother Elizabeth Knight was diagnosed with type 2
diabetes at about 5 0 years old,” recalls Gladys. “And back
then, she told us, “I’m going to live to be 80,’ and she did!
Mom always wanted to make life with diabetes better. So
many people are down about getting diabetes, and it doesn‘t
need to be that way. If you are willing to do what you need
to do to control this disease, it’s like anything else. That’s
what my mom taught us, and that’s what my we want to pass
along to other people.
Gladys is taking her mother’s lessons and spreading the
word. She wants to make it better for others with diabetes -
and that includes some of her siblings. “The year Mom was
first diagnosed with it, of course none of us had it. But my
always an issue for my mother’s
all need to keep an eye on that.”
need
to
do,
watching what she
eats and moving
all the time.
That’s the way
we should be
about
this
disease. Now,
I don’t have it,
and
my
b r o t h e r
B u b b a
doesn‘t have
it, either. But
weight was
side of the family, so we
Taking care. That’s what the Elizabeth Knight Fund is all
about: “Mom was always after us t5o get on a diet, get6 out
and exercise, and just plain get out and do thing, and so forth
and so on. She was very particular. Even after she got older.
“She played such a big part in our lives – she handled our
finances for years and came on trips with us all the time.
See DIABETES page 28