Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Second annual diabetes walk set for Saturday

Registration for the walks can be done online at www.diabetes.org/walk

For more information, call the American Diabetes Association at 369-9995.

When Las Vegas rock musician Howie Cooperstein needed a kidney because his were destroyed by diabetes, he didn't have to go far to find a donor.

His mom, Barbara Cooperstein Miller, was a match and was happy to share.

"The decision to give Howie one of my kidneys was as easy as making a decision to draw a breath," Miller, a Las Vegas resident of 12 years, said. "I figured I gave him life once, I can do it again."

Four years ago Cooperstein, bass guitarist for the group Peek, underwent the life-saving operation, and both mom, 64, and son, 38, today are doing fine. However, Cooperstein still battles diabetes, a disease that prevents the body from producing enough insulin to break down sugars in the bloodstream.

Miller's dedication to her son and to finding a cure for the disease that since age 7 has afflicted her son remains strong.

Miller recently recruited fellow employees at the University Orthopedics medical office, where she works as a receptionist, to join her as members of "Team Howie" in Saturday's second annual America's Walk for Diabetes beginning at noon at Wet 'n Wild Theme Park, 2600 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

Sponsored by the Las Vegas office of the American Diabetes Association, the event is expected to raise more than $30,000 for research.

"Diabetes is the nation's fifth leading killer, taking 210,000 lives each year -- more than AIDS and breast cancer combined," said Irene Smith, president of the local ADA chapter, who also is the mother of a diabetic.

"With an estimated 17 million Americans having the disease -- yet only 11 million having actually been diagnosed -- we have to work hard to educate people."

Left unchecked, diabetes can lead to heart failure, loss of sight, loss of limbs and eventually loss of life, Smith said, noting that each year 1 million Americans are diagnosed with the disease.

There are two types of diabetes. Type 1 is juvenile diabetes, which is diagnosed in children whose pancreases fail to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes, also called "adult-onset" diabetes, is diagnosed in overweight adults and in overweight, sedentary children.

"After a specialist told me I had Type 1 diabetes, he gave me a syringe and an orange to practice on," Cooperstein said. "I could tell my mother was concerned about sticking me with a needle."

Miller said she was "so consumed with guilt" because her son was unhealthy. It took her many years to accept that while the disease generally runs in families, skipping generations, it was not her fault her son got it.

"My world had just about ended, I thought at the time (of the diagnosis)," said Miller, who was a single mother raising two children in Brooklyn.

"But when I saw Howie come out of his room with the (used) syringe and throw it away, I was so proud of him and how he was coping with the disease at such a young age. From then on, he gave himself his own shots."

As the years went on Cooperstein lost sight in both eyes because of the disease, but got his vision restored through laser surgery of the retinas. In 1994, when his kidneys began leaking, nothing could save those organs.

"Mom and I have always been close, so it was not a matter of her donating a kidney bringing us closer together," Cooperstein said.

"I tried to talk her out of being the donor because I was concerned that if it didn't work she would be devastated, I would still be in need of a kidney and she would be left with only one kidney."

But that potential scenario could not deter Miller, who well remembered how she had hesitated out of fear to give her son shots 27 years earlier. She would never again let fear stand in her way of helping him when he was in need.

Carl Miller, Cooperstein's stepfather and a mail-order pharmacist, estimates that without insurance, the 25 pills Cooperstein takes daily to prevent organ rejection and to protect his system would cost more than $4,000 a month. Cooperstein has Medicaid, but still pays a portion of the cost of medication.

Cooperstein, as a high-energy alternative rock performer, says he has to keep a close watch on his system -- a regimen that includes checking his blood sugar levels six to seven times daily. Still, the seriousness of his condition has not dampened his sense of humor.

"The only thing I feared about getting one of my mother's kidneys was that I would develop a desire to grab a mop and bucket and start cleaning as hard as she does," he said.

Miller is a member of Weight Watchers, which is a major sponsor of the upcoming walk. Years ago she went from 241 pounds down to 163. Since his kidney replacement surgery, Cooper, following his mother's example, though not a Weight Watcher, has gone from 245 pounds to 218.

"Weight Watchers is excellent for diabetics because it not only is a weight loss program, but also because it encourages healthy lifestyle changes," Andreah Davi Werner, vice president of Weight Watchers of Las Vegas Inc., said.

"Type 2 diabetes is on the rise at an alarming rate because of obesity. An estimated 88,000 people in Clark County (and 120,000 in the state) have diabetes. We feel that by participating in the walk we can help increase public awareness about diabetes."

The American Diabetes Association warns that unless lifestyles change, diabetes will be a major health dilemma in the 21st century. The organization estimates that 31 percent of the girls and 27 percent of the boys that were born in 2000 could get the disease.

Barbara Miller said encouraging more education for the disease motivates her to do the two-mile walk -- the middle distance of the three walks.

"Not enough people respect the seriousness of this disease," she said. "They think all it takes is a shot of insulin and everything it is OK. But it is not that simple."

Through diet, exercise, medication and in many -- but not all -- cases, injections of insulin, diabetes can be a controllable and manageable disease, Smith said.

Cooperstein said as part of his exercise plan, he will walk in the one-mile fund-raiser. The longest of the events is three-mile hike.

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