There are three primary types of Diabetes (Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 30.3 million Americans, or 9.4% of the population, have some type of Diabetes. At Touched by Type 1 we focus on Type 1 Diabetes, for which there is no cure. About 1.9 million American children and adults are impacted by Type 1 Diabetes and an estimated 40,000 will be newly diagnosed this year. Once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent Diabetes, it is a chronic disease in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin.

Type 1 Diabetes as an autoimmune disease which occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas and destroys them. The pancreas then produces little or no insulin. Type 1 Diabetes develops most often in young people but also appears in adults.