COLUMBUS, Ohio – Dozens of Columbus residents will “step out” Saturday morning to raise money and awareness about a disease that many say is a looming health crisis.
The Step Out Walk to benefit the Diabetes Association takes place at Wolfe Park, one of 125 such events this year.
The walks have raised more than $24 million for diabetes research and support, said Heather Berg, 2013 National Youth Advocate.
Berg, an 18-year-old high school senior from Kent, Wash., says she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes 10 years ago.
The association estimates nearly 26 million adults and children are living with diabetes and another 79 million are “prediabetic,” placing them at increased risk for developing Type II diabetes.
Diabetes is the leading cause of heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and amputations in adults, according to the association’s website.
The association says recent estimates project that as many as one in three American adults will have diabetes by 2050.