TARRYTOWN, N.Y., Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bayer HealthCare LLC, Diabetes Care Division, a member of the Bayer Group , announced today Kathryn (Kassie) Gregorio Palmer as the official 2004 winner of The Ascensia Dream Fund(R), the Company’s annual contest for people with diabetes. Through this award, Palmer, 36, will realize her dream of authoring and publishing a book of advice and practical tips to help families overcome the unique challenges of parenting with diabetes.
Palmer, a mother of two children, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 18. She aims to give other parents the courage and inspiration to self-manage their diabetes to preserve their health and wellness while raising a family.
“Maintaining control of my blood sugar while caring for my young sons has been a slow and steady battle, fought daily with self-monitoring, an insulin pump, and support from friends and family,” said Palmer. “Along the way, my own challenges and ideas, in combination with tips and tricks from my circle of friends with diabetes, have taught me about parenting with diabetes and made a huge difference in my diabetes control. I want to show parents with diabetes that giving love and care to their children does not mean they need to compromise the management of their own diabetes, and that they are not alone in their daily struggles to balance family, work, and diabetes.”
Palmer will write from her own experiences as well as from the experiences of others with diabetes, including women who have given birth, adoptive parents, step-parents and fathers. Topics might range from finding ways to remember to monitor blood sugars to managing fears that their children may develop diabetes.
“When I was pregnant, I was blessed with an enormous amount of information and attention to help me manage my diabetes,” said Palmer. “But after my children were born, I felt like I fell off a cliff, because there was a real lack of information about how to juggle my own self-monitoring, nutrition and exercise needs, while assuming the overwhelming task of caring for a young child. My dream is to write a book that will fill that vital need for other parents like me. I’m so grateful to Bayer HealthCare and The Ascensia Dream Fund contest for making this possible.”
The book is expected to be available at the end of 2005. For more information about how to obtain a copy of the book and how to enter The 2005 Ascensia Dream Fund(R) contest, log on to http://www.ascensiadreamfund.com/ or call toll-free 800-255-8769 (press 1, press 7666#).
“Kathryn Palmer’s persistence in keeping her diabetes under control through diligent self-management, while raising her children as a working mom, is a great inspiration to other parents with diabetes,” said Joe Malta, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Bayer HealthCare, Diabetes Care Division. “Bayer is proud to name her as the official 2004 winner of The Ascensia Dream Fund contest. We hope her story will inspire many other women and men like her to enter The Dream Fund contest in 2005.”
The Ascensia Dream Fund(R)
The Ascensia Dream Fund(R) contest was created two years ago to help people achieve a significant dream that would not be possible without control of their diabetes through self-monitoring. The contest was inspired by John Dennis who in 2002 became the first person with diabetes to qualify for and participate in Around Alone, a single-handed global yacht race. In 2003, Colleen McCarthy LaPierre was selected as the winner and fulfilled her dream to establish a challenge-based adventure camp for teenagers with diabetes. People with diabetes in the US, 18 and older, can request an application for The Ascensia Dream Fund(R) contest for 2005 at http://www.ascensiadreamfund.com/ or by calling toll-free 800-255-8769 (press 1, press 7666#).
Ascensia(R)
Ascensia means to ‘ascend and achieve.’ The complete range of Ascensia diabetes care products and services are designed to help patients do just that -- rise above their disease to experience life’s many possibilities. This unique approach is called Your Life. Your Way. and reflects Bayer HealthCare’s dedication to the principle that Ascensia products and services will help people define their lives in terms of their goals and achievements -- not their diabetes.
Ascensia represents Bayer’s evolution towards self-directed patient care, as the company has been a leader in diabetes monitoring and management since 1941.
Bayer HealthCare Diabetes Care Division
Bayer HealthCare Diabetes Care Division is one of the largest self test diagnostic businesses in the world, supporting customers in 100 countries. Since the introduction of Clinitest(R) reagent tablets in 1941 - Bayer has led the way in diabetes care product innovation. The company changed the face of diabetes care in 1969 when it introduced the first portable blood glucose meter and strips. Bayer HealthCare further innovated diabetes self management by being the first company to introduce a suite of blood glucose monitors that do not require coding. The Ascensia(R) CONTOUR(R), Ascensia(R) BREEZE(R) and Ascensia(R) DEX(R)2 systems offer people with diabetes unparalleled choice in blood glucose monitoring meters. Bayer HealthCare Diabetes Care Division’s global headquarters in the United States operates as part of Bayer HealthCare LLC, a member of the worldwide Bayer HealthCare group.
Bayer HealthCare AG
Bayer HealthCare AG, a subgroup of Bayer AG with sales of approximately 8.9 billion Euro in 2003, is one of the world’s leading, innovative companies in the health care and medical products industry.
The company combines the global activities of the divisions Animal Health, Biological Products, Consumer Care, Diagnostics, Diabetes Care and Pharmaceuticals. More than 34,000 people are employed by Bayer HealthCare worldwide.
Our aim is to discover and manufacture innovative products that will improve human and animal health worldwide. Our products enhance well-being and quality of life by diagnosing, preventing and treating disease.
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in our public reports filed with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including our Form 20-F). The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.
Web Sites: http://www.AscensiaDreamFund.com http://www.bayer.com
Bayer HealthCare LLC
CONTACT: Susan Hager of Bayer HealthCare, +1-781-551-7916, orSusan.Hager.b@bayer.com; or Jocelyn Serio-Miller of Chandler Chicco Agency,+1-978-462-0412, or JSerio-Miller@ccapr.com