But there is legislation moving through Congress that seeks funding to improve public awareness and early detection.
Vascular surgen Dr. Lee Kirksey of the Cleveland Clinic said there is no disease that ravages the body quite like diabetes. The complications can be serious: heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and the most worrisome and drastic of all, limb loss.
“When I talk to diabetics, their greatest fear and they know that they can have a heart attack or stroke, their greatest fear is having to have an amputation,” said Dr. Kirksey.
According to Dr. Kirksey, as many as 25% of patients with diabetes at some point will develop a foot ulcer and if left untreated, that ulcer can lead to infection and amputation … read more