Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 6, June 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

North End bicyclist rides for Dad, diabetes cure

By JAMES BUSH

Andrew Casey recently completed a 100-mile bike ride at the American Diabetes Association's Northwest Tour de Cure.

That's easy. The 31-year-old triathlete, soccer player, and hiker regularly rides home from his job at Safeco's Redmond campus. On nice days, the Fremont resident stretches his 15-mile trip home from work into about a 30-mile ride via Medina and State Route 520 (The Evergreen Point Bridge lacks bike lanes, so he has to ride a bus across Lake Washington).

But competing in the fundraising event also required collecting pledges.

That's challenging. "I set my goal at $2,500, not realizing how hard it would be," says Casey. A few weeks before the event, he had raised about $1,500 in pledges.

This is the first Northwest running of the Tour de Cure, a national ADA event. Participants made the trip down to Orting on May 22 to compete on five scenic courses along the Puyallup River. The money raised by the more than 300 cyclists will finance local ADA programs and fund research on the organization's number-one challenge: finding a cure for diabetes.

Casey says he is riding in this year's event in honor of his father, Peter, who was diagnosed with adult-onset (Type 2) diabetes about a dozen years ago. He spotted an advertisement for the Tour de Cure in a bicycling magazine, then realized that it was being held the day before his father's 63rd birthday.

"I was thinking of doing an event like this," he says. "When I saw the date it was like 'All right, I'll do this one. I get the hint.' "

"It's a nice birthday present, I guess," adds Casey.

About 18.3 million Americans (some 6.3 percent of the total population) have diabetes, a disease in which the body does not produce or does not properly use insulin (a hormone needed to convert sugar and starches into energy). Almost one-third of those who have diabetes are undiagnosed and are unaware that they have the disease.

Type 1 diabetes, which affects less than 10 percent of the diabetic population, results from the body's failure to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes results from the body's failure to properly use insulin, combined with an insulin deficiency. Diabetes can lead to severe health complications, including blindness, heart disease, and damage to kidneys or the nervous system.

While some diabetics must take regular injections of insulin, others can successfully control the disease through diet and exercise. Which, in part, helps to explain why the ADA has embraced bicycle events: bicycling is a sport in which you can participate by yourself or in a group, you can ride at your own pace and you can participate at almost any age.

Having a diabetic in your family puts you at a higher risk for diabetes, although maintaining a healthy diet and getting regular exercise helps to reduce the risk. While the link between heredity and diabetes "is something I'm concerned about and something I'm aware of," Casey says it's another motivation for staying active and healthy.

A native of the Boston area, where his parents still live, Casey moved to San Francisco in the late 1990s for a job with Reflective Technologies, a company that makes reflective gear for runners and cyclists. "I came up to visit and friend here, fell in love with [Seattle], and moved up," he says.

After living in the northwestern portion of the Fremont neighborhood for three years, he returned to Boston briefly, then came back and found a house in the same neighborhood. It's also close to his favorite bike shop, Wright Brothers Cycle Works on North 36th Street, and within riding distance of his job.

How does he handle the long rides while training for triathlons? Casey points to a tiny smiley face sticker on his bike frame just below the handlebars. "That," he says, "is to remind me I'm having a good time."

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The American Diabetes Association can be reached at 1-800-676-4065 or www.diabetes.org.