Following the death of rapper Phife Dawg on Tuesday, March 22, the community is focusing attention oa a disease that has long plagued it — diabetes.
According to the American Diabetes Association, there are over two million Blacks living with the disease and nearly half of them don’t know they have it. If left uncontrolled and unmanaged, the disease, which is the result of too much sugar in the blood, or high blood glucose, can lead to strokes, cardiovascular complications, and kidney failure. In fact, the premature death rate for Blacks living with diabetes is nearly 30 percent higher than for their White counterparts.
In addition to cardiovascular complications, diabetes can put sufferers at increased risk for skin infections, cataracts, glaucoma, and blindness due to diabetic retinopathy.
Like much in life, illnesses do not discriminate against the famous. And while many of Hollywood’s famous faces appear to have it all: wealth, health and happiness, underneath all the designer duds, many stars suffer from the same issues that many of the rest of the world struggle with from day-to-day. For stars who suffer from diabetes, hit the flip.
