Around a year ago I posted the story of two elderly brothers, both of whom have had type 1 diabetes since childhood. It's amazing to read about these guys for two reasons: first, they've lived with diabetes for a reeeaally long time. Secondly, for most of that time, they did not have the medical knowledge or technology on which today's diabetics depend. (Okay, so when it comes to stuff like Avandia, you could argue that's a good thing!)

Anyway, one of the brothers - Robert "Bob" Cleveland (87) - will be featured in a new book titled 50 Secrets of the Longest Living People with Diabetes by Sheri R. Colberg and Steven V. Edelman. The book is part of the Marlowe Diabetes Library series. It will be published in November and is available for pre-ordering on Amazon.

Linda von Wartburg, writing for Diabetes Health, has posted an excerpt about Cleveland taken from the book, for those who want an advance taste. According to that post, Bob Cleveland has lived with the disease for an amazing eighty-two years. This makes Cleveland second in line for the title of person in the US who's lived with diabetes the longest. He was five years old when diagnosed in 1925. Bob's brother, Gerald, has not had diabetes for quite so long, but he is the oldest living person with diabetes in the US. The brothers are pictured at right, with Bob on the left and Gerald on the right.

Reading Cleveland's account of his early years with diabetes, before insulin became available, is quite harrowing. He describes being on a "starvation diet," hospital stays, and memories of his mother desperately trying to pull him out of hypoglycemic episodes. Incredible reading.

This headline on the website Diabetes Health got my attention: "The Federal Government Hugely Out-of-Pocket for Diabetes Care." Here are the key numbers: In 2005, the federal government spent almost eighty billion dollars on diabetes care, writes Linda von Wartburg, reporting on a study commissioned by drug giant Novo Nordisk as part of its "Changing Diabetes" campaign. In fact, one in every eight healthcare dollars - or twelve percent of the budget - was spent on diabetes. Need some more perspective? Well, according to the Novo study, this amounts to more than the entire budget of the Department of Education. Phew.

Yes, diabetes care is costing a lot of money. But the ballooning cost of diabetes treatment is only part of the problem. Of equal concern is the amount spent on care versus the amount allocated for prevention and education. Paltry, is the word you might use. Of the 79.7 billion spent, only 3.9 billion went to prevention or education. Considering Type 2 diabetes cases are ballooning in the US - some say it constitutes an epidemic - the feds might want to consider tweaking the budget a bit, don't you agree? That's what the study's authors are recommending. They say more money is desperately needed for prevention and public education. Click here to read more on Novo's Federal Spending Report.