Halloween help

Halloween can be a hard time for those suffering from diabetes.

It’s one of the reasons a national fundraiser is held in support of the Canadian Diabetes Association this time of year.

“Lots of kids with diabetes either struggle with eating those (candies) or they get teased at school because they can’t,” regional diabetes association director Suzanne Sterling said on a chilly Sunday morning before a fun run at Boulevard Lake. “It’s a real challenge.”

The association wants people out there to know that they don’t have to just dish out sugar at their door on Oct. 31.

“There are all sorts of alternatives to candy for Halloween,” Sterling said. “There are pencils and erasers and colouring sheets and all of those other options that people can give out. They don’t always have to be the sugary treats.”

Around 25 people either ran or walked the three or five kilometre route on Sunday dressed in Halloween customes. The proceeds will go towards research and education, something that is needed for a disease that now hits one in three people in Canada.

A very conservative estimate for the region puts the number at 25,000 people. But there are those who haven’t been diagnosed, along with First Nations communities that have 50 per cent of their populations with the disease, that likely make the numbers much higher Sterling said.

“The number is always rising,” she said.