Walk to Cure Diabetes this weekend

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Five-year-old Rachel Porhammer sticks herself 17 times a day to check her blood sugar.

The Palm Bay kindergartner was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes, when she was 19 months old.

“It’s hard watching my daughter, knowing that she will always be restricted as far as what she can do with food and that she must maintain her health,” said Rachel’s mother, Carrie Porhammer. “I look to the future and it’s really scary, all the physical aliments she could have.”

The Porhammers will take part Saturday in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund’s five-kilometer “Walk to Cure Diabetes.” Organizers hope walkers will ask at least 10 friends for $10 to help raise at least $317,000.

For every dollar that is raised, 90 cents goes to research.

“It’s a celebratory day to recognize that we’re coming together to help fund the disease,” Porhammer said.

In addition to the walk at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach, there will be entertainment, a children’s craft area, music and food.

Rachel has seen how the walk can benefit her: An insulin pump she wears was paid for by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.

“As well as advancements for a cure, they also research how to live with diabetes and control it,” Porhammer said.

But it’s the cure that her daughter is hoping for.

A couple of years ago, after the family finished the annual walk, then-3-year-old Rachel asked her mom where “the cure” was.

“She thought we were going to finish the walk and actually find a cure,” Porhammer said.

“What do you say to a 3-year-old staring you in the eyes wondering where her cure is?”