Sunil was working in the office when he started feeling dizzy. He was rushed to the hospital and learned that his life would never be the same.
Saving Lives and Limbs - Fiji
“I was working in the office. All of a sudden, I was feeling dizzy and my head started ringing. They took me to a hospital . The doctor examined me and told me that I've got diabetes. That's when I came to know that I had diabetes. My name is Sunil Dutt, and I am 58 years old.”
A deadly pandemic is sweeping across the South Pacific, where the world’s highest incidence of type 2 diabetes is found. In Fiji alone, one in three people are diagnosed with this disease.
For many patients, diabetes leads to serious complications, such as amputation. Today, 80 people will have an amputation in this region--that’s one amputation every 10 minutes.
“Then they transferred me to CWM hospital, where I was told that, through the diabetes, I've got a heart attack. And that's the time, the first time I had a feeling that I'm finished now. I had my operation through that cause of diabetes the blood was not flowing properly. Ten times I went to the operating Theatre in Fiji. And they had to cut ten times part by part and today I don't have both legs--you can see that both legs are finished.”
“So I didn't think about my health at the time because I was young and I was powerful. That thing didn't affect me at the time, but once I was in the hospital, then I started feeling what I had done to my life. And that's how I lost my leg off. Without legs there's nothing left in my life now. I was so active and today I'm like, I cannot go anywhere just because of my leg. It doesn't allow me to go anywhere. As you can see my family is affected too much. Especially my wife, without her I'm dead. Through her I have survived and today I'm still alive. If she was not there, I would have died by now.”
Like Sunil, many people in the South Pacific are at risk of losing their toes, their limbs, or even their lives to type 2 diabetes. But the Seventh-day Adventist Church is determined to do something about it.
Adventist Health and ADRA have partnered to launch the public health campaign called “The 10,000 Toes.” The campaign seeks to save the lives and limbs of people affected by this tragic disease through a multi-stage approach.
A portion of your 13th Sabbath Offering this quarter will provide patients and their families with user-friendly diagnostic kits for early detection of type 2 diabetes. Part of your gifts will also help implement community-based programs that encourage the public to take charge of their health. Your support will train medical professionals to help stamp out diabetes in the South Pacific. The people need your help and prayers. Thank you for your support of the 13th Sabbath Offering.
