Ben Vereen Shines a Spotlight on Diabetes

CINDY SANDERS

Ben Vereen Shines a Spotlight on Diabetes

Iconic Entertainer Launches National Awareness Campaign

Ben Vereen, star of stage and screen, was just another frightened patient a year ago.

According to the Tony Award-winning actor, "I was feeling off for quite awhile. I was tired all the time. I couldn't focus. I was thirsty all the time. … everything was off … my whole system was off."

Hospitalized at the end of 2007, the lab report on his blood work uncovered a reason for his growing malaise. Like someone every 30 seconds around the country, Ben Vereen was diagnosed diabetic.

Initially, Vereen was surprised. After all, he has spent his life dancing and moving. However, statistics show the entertainer was at increased risk for type 2 diabetes based on ethnicity and age. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14.7 percent of all non-Hispanic blacks over the age of 20 have diabetes. Growing older, however, is one of the biggest risk factors for the disease. At age 60 or older, 23.1 percent of the population … nearly a quarter of that demographic segment … has diabetes.

"We have close to 25 million people in the United States with diabetes," Vereen stated. "We have an epidemic on our hands, and it's been kept quiet. But it can't be kept quiet anymore.

"There's such a stigma around diabetes," he continued, adding that people act like you are dying when you tell them you have diabetes. "It's not true," he asserted. "You can live with diabetes. You can have a great life … a better life."

This is the message he hopes to spread nationwide with his "Take the Stage for Diabetes Awareness" campaign, which he launched from New York City on Sept. 24.

"It's time for people to take the stage for their life. It's not a death sentence," he says of the diagnosis. "It's a life sentence."

Since his diagnosis, the entertainer said he feels better than ever.

"My work is enhanced because of my awareness of why I felt bad," he said. "Someone showed me the problem and said, 'here are the tools to deal with it.'"

That someone, Vereen noted, was his endocrinologist, Michael A. Bush, MD. Based in Beverly Hills, Calif., the past clinical chief of the Division of Endocrinology at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, who is in private practice, agreed that type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions around the world.

"It's an ever-growing population and an ever-growing problem," said Bush, a clinical associate professor at UCLA. He added that building awareness among providers and the general public is an important step in taking control of the disease.

The American Diabetes Association and CDC estimate 23.6 million Americans are living with diabetes. However, Bush pointed out, about 6 million of them don't realize they have the disease. Millions more are considered pre-diabetic and without intervention are at heightened risk to transition into diabetes and develop heart disease.

Bush said the Diabetes Prevention Program, a long-term, NIH-funded national clinical trial, clearly showed the correlation between weight loss and moderate exercise (as little as 30 minutes per day, five days a week) added up to a major difference.

"They lost about 6 percent body weight with 150 minutes per week exercise," he stated of the lifestyle intervention group. "Instead of an 11 percent transition (to diabetes) per year, the lifestyle group had a 4-1/2 percent transition per year."

As for the new campaign, Bush said he and Vereen share an interest in educating the public.

"We're fortunate," he said, "in the sense that diabetes is a common disorder in that there's a lot of public health awareness and research awareness." Now, he continued, that same attention to the problem must filter its way into the daily consciousness of the general public.

"Everyone, even if they don't have diabetes, has someone in their family or knows someone who has diabetes. I think that's how prevalent it is in our society," Bush said.

Prevalence, however, doesn't necessarily translate into actively taking preventive measures.

"This campaign is trying to cast a wide net. One of the ways to get doctors' attention is to get the people's attention," Bush continued.

Once someone has been diagnosed with diabetes, Bush said there are more opportunities than ever before to effectively manage the disease and avoid common diabetic complications.

"Diabetes care today is a partnership––and should be a partnership––between the physician and patient. In diabetes they (the patient) are the primary care decision-makers. The lifestyle decisions are in their hands," he stressed of the need for patients to be vigilant in controlling their condition.

Fortunately, he continued, research has led to new strategies to manage the disease and customize care to best suit each individual.

"Many of the tools weren't there 10 years ago," he pointed out, adding that he believes even more options will become available as research drills down to a molecular level.

For Vereen, what might have seemed devastating at first glance has turned into a blessing.

"Now I'm feeling fantastic," he said, noting that he's been hard at work on upcoming projects including the television movie "An Accidental Friendship," which is scheduled to air on the Hallmark channel Nov. 15, and the upcoming Fox feature "Mama, I want to Sing!" with Patti Labelle and Ciara.

"Whenever you see me, I'll be waiving the banner," he said of his commitment to increasing awareness and research dollars to turn the tide on diabetes. "My job is to make people aware that you can live with this. My job is to make people aware of what choices are available."