I get to his compound early, on Sunday morning to find a busy Mr. Thurgood tending his flowers as has been his routine for the last thirty years. Young children are running up and down as they play hide and seek in the hibiscus thickets at the edge of the compound. Their noise irritates the old grandma seated at the balcony on a beautifully woven woolen carpet spread on the linoleum floor; I cannot hear her words as she mumbles in disgust, pointing her walking staff to the direction of the children. “Sorry for the delay, I have this special attachment to my flowers, I take ages in the garden,” says Mr. Thurgood as he leads the way to his living room with large couches and a glass table in the middle bearing a large rose flower print at the center. The house is silent for a while. “This is my mother, an iron-lady, if I may add,” starts Thurgood, who is now helping the old lady set herself on the sofa. “Mommy has struggled with diabetes for nearly twenty years now. Cheerful as we may look, we are still pondering over her loss of sight.” Mr. Thurgood continues to tell of their battle with diabetes, which they now view as a family monster.
Nanny, as they refer to Thurgood’s mother, has suffered type 2 diabetes, which she was diagnosed with in her late 40s. “Nothing saddens a mother like seeing your children not live fulfilling lives. It is the joy of every parent to watch their kids grow healthy and be reproductive,” starts Nanny whose voice I can now hear clearly. “My husband was diabetic and only after he died a decade ago did we realize that the disease ran in the family. My son Thurgood here, together with two of her sisters have also been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.” She adds that she knew very little about diabetes before screening and testing positive during a free medical camp she attended. “Before the diagnosis, I had started developing patches of dark skin on my body. The common signs like frequent urination, increased thirst, and frequent hunger were present, but I had ignored them all along.” Nanny painfully points out how she gradually lost her sight after long periods of suffering blurred vision. She remembers her daughter, Rafaela also complaining of eye problems. “Nowadays, I strain a lot at work. I cannot see clearly,” she had complained to her one evening. Nanny sighs heavily then continues, “The next time she came home and announced to me that she had visited her physician, and sadly, she also had type 2 diabetes.”
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There were already five members of Thurgood’s family suffering this type of diabetes, a condition argued by many researchers to genetic. Some scientists do attribute diabetes with poor eating habits (Jain, Sharma, Choudhary, Yadav, Jain & Maanju, 2015). The disease develops when an individual’s body produces inadequate insulin, a regulatory hormone that controls sugar intake and utilization in the body. Nanny and her daughter Rafaela lose their eyesight due to diabetes. Physicians explain this effect as an aftermath of high blood sugar levels, which results from the body’s inability to use up the sugar hence affecting vital body organs such as the eyes. (Jain et al., 2015) The heart and brain also require energy to perform their normal functions, and failure to attain this fuel from the glucose in the diet leads to fatigue, a common symptom of diabetes type 2.
Furthermore, the excess sugar in the bloodstream overworks the kidney, which is responsible for osmoregulation, explaining the frequency in the urge to use the bathroom reported by many victims of type 2 diabetes. “My mom and little sister losing their eyesight to diabetes was a nightmare I had to deal with every day. I am not going to allow this to happen to me or any other member of the family.” Says Mr. Thurgood who has been listening to his mother and seldom interjecting. “Much as diabetes is genetic, I believe changing our lifestyle especially pertaining eating habits will be helpful,” he adds.
Nutritionists recommend low sugar consumption in the diet as a preventive measure against type 2 diabetes (Jain et al., 2015). “Those children you saw playing outside deserve better than we have gone through,” says Thurgood. He continues, “Where there is will, there is way. We are dedicated to shunning some of our ways. We ought to reduce the number of times we eat out and start cooking healthy meals at home.” Doctors advise a diet full of fruits and vegetables with less soft drinks and starchy foods, which would otherwise contain high sugar levels (Jain et al., 2015). “Even our cakes now have to be healthy. Incorporating carrots and lemons in our baking has been among the initiatives we have taken towards achieving our goals.” Thurgood points out. Mr. Thurgood goes on to thank his family members for the support they have shown. “This is a battle you cannot fight alone. After being diagnosed with diabetes, my diet had to change drastically, and you can be sure it was not a walk in the park.” He says, “At first we had to cook two separate meals, but with time we started taking a common meal, making things easier even later when Nanny joins the family.”
The family admits that they have had to make adjustments, not only regarding meals but also incorporate physical exercise as a routine. They strive to engage in physical activity at least thirty minutes a day. Nanny says she takes a walk around the compound every evening with the aid of her son. “The rest of us engage in more strenuous activities like yoga, and we have a family trainer who leads the exercises every morning for at least three days a week.” Points Mr. Thurgood who says he is willing to stretch as much as possible to ensure this monster leaves their family. “I always think of life as a beautiful experience, which indeed is,” says Nanny as she laughs. “I always hear my grandchildren describe the rose flower on this table here as they try to draw it in their art sketchbooks. Whenever I hear them, it occurs to me that life is like a rose. It blends both wonderful and awful experiences.” She further illustrates how their battle with diabetes has inflicted painful memories as would prick rose’s thorns. “I lost my beloved husband to this very disease. My daughter and I cannot recover our sight anymore.” Adds the frail woman in her early seventies. The old lady, however, agrees that a positive attitude and consistency in following doctors’ pieces of advice have gone a long way in helping her live with the disease. “I call out to fellow victims out there with diabetes not to give up. Being diagnosed with the illness is not a death sentence,” points out, Mr. Thurgood. The family is proud of the fruits of their labor. They happily report that no other member of the family has been diagnosed with the disease since they started changing their eating habits.
Discussion and Analysis
Media communication tools
There are various media communication tools used in feature story writing. Both print media and electronic media are applicable in the journalistic writing of articles. The article on the Battle with Diabetes is a feature story for the American Magazine, initially submitted in print form. The American Magazine has an online website regularly updated by the editing company to enhance uploading of such articles in electronic form. The new regulation on possessing electronic media platforms makes it easy for readers to access articles published any time hence convenient (Vincent, 2014).
Identifying the audience
Identifying the target audience for any piece of journalistic writing is a critical step of consideration before a writer commences writing (Vincent, 2014). In the article, Battle with Diabetes, for instance, the writer targets a broad scope of readers, ranging from people who suffer diabetes type 2, individuals whose relatives and friends have diabetes, doctors, and other stakeholders, especially in intervention programs to aid diabetes patients. Identifying the target readers enables a writer use a language suitable for the audience while also considering other individual characteristics of each audience
Gathering information and research
It is the prime duty of every freelancer to gather information on a topic of choice before writing an article for editing (Vincent, 2014). The Battle with Diabetes presents thorough research on diabetes type 2 as is depicted by the interview with the Thurgood family who have been struggling with the ailment. As is required of feature stories, a better part of the article comprises the story as told by the interviewees. The people tell the story, thus fulfilling the human aspect of feature stories. Writers need to be diligent in their search for information to ensure relevance in the setting area while also keeping time as the process is often time-bound.
Understanding the editing process
The editing process of magazine articles such as the discussed Battle with Diabetes entails a series of steps. First, the freelancer needs to contact the editing company in a query letter or even telephone to inquire about the editor’s details like names (Vincent, 2014). The freelancer should understand the vital writing rules, such as the necessary observation of grammar and spelling rules that would otherwise ruin the quality of their writing. Editors require that writers prioritize the needs of their readers since customer satisfaction is vital in the editing process and determines publication of a piece of paper.
References
Jain, A., Sharma, R., Choudhary, P. K., Yadav, N., Jain, G., & Maanju, M. (2015). Study of fatigue, depression, and associated factors in type 2 diabetes mellitus in industrial workers. Industrial Psychiatry Journal , 24 (2), 179–184.
Vincent, W. M. (2014). How to Make a Living Writing Articles for Newspapers, Magazines, and Online Sources : Everything You Need to Know to Become a Successful Freelance Writer . Ocala, Florida: Atlantic Publishing Group Inc.
