Bernie Siegel of Genetics Policy Inst, winner of dLife award for Stem Cell Advocacy!!

[Faye]

Bernie won out over such greats as Mary Tyler Moore, NBC's "ER", Newt Gingrich, Jose Feliciano and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who were also nominated.

He couldn't have done it without the great support of the Stem Cell Activists community of which I am a long time member.


http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-31-2006/0004371177&EDATE=

DLife logo. (PRNewsFoto/dLife)

WESTPORT, CT UNITED STATES 05/30/2006



Leading media voice for the diabetes community shines spotlight on new faces fighting the diabetes epidemic; thousands of America's 21 million people with diabetes name their heroes WESTPORT, Conn., May 31 /PRNewswire/

-- What do one of America's mostfamous and influential CEOs, a comic book written by two young boys, and abasketball superstar have in common? Answer: Diabetes and the admiration of more than 20,000 readers,listeners, and viewers of dLife, America's leading multimedia informationsource for people living with diabetes. Basketball superstar Adam Morrison,business giant Lee Iacocca, and comic book authors Kamaal and MalcolmWashington were among The Annual dLife Top 10, Making a Difference inDiabetes.

This marks the first year for these awards, which were based onthe contributions these winners made to the diabetes community throughout2005. dLife's editorial staff, which presents valuable information aboutdiabetes through television, radio, web, and print, combined their diabetesknowledge to offer a list of nominees representing those in America whoinspired, motivated and improved the lives of people with diabetes.

Thousands voted online to whittle the nominee list down to the final awardwinners. The runaway winner at number 1 was college basketball superstar, AdamMorrison. Morrison, projected by many to be the number 1 pick in theupcoming NBA draft, was the nation's leading scorer during the 2005-2006college basketball season, all the while publicly managing his diabetes byopenly testing his blood sugars and injecting insulin courtside.

Morrison'spublic acknowledgment of his chronic disease helped make it very clear that people with diabetes can take control of their condition and not onlyachieve success in life, but also achieve greatness. "Some days the sugars are up and down and your body just doesn't feelright but it's no excuse," says Morrison. "You gotta just go out there andgive it 110 percent, even though you don't feel well."

Apparently thismessage has resonated as dramatically within the diabetes community as hisathletic skills on the court have resonated within the sports community. Internationally famous business leader Lee Iacocca was also a hit withvoters. Through JoinLeeNow, the fund-raising arm of The Iacocca Foundation,founded in honor of his wife Mary Iacocca whose death was due tocomplications of type 1 diabetes, more than $9 million was raised tosupport promising research for a diabetes cure.

Approaching diabetes from an entirely different direction, the twoyoung sons of Alonzo Washington, creator/publisher of OMEGA MAN comics,followed heroically in their father's footsteps. Kamaal (10) and Malcolm(8) were inspired to create a story about Omega Boy and Doctor Diabetesafter Kamaal was diagnosed with the disease. "Kamaal and his brother wantedto do something to bring more awareness to the illness," says their dad,Alonzo Washington. "They have been begging me for years to publish one oftheir characters. When they told me that they wanted to use Omega Boy toaddress diabetes, how could I say no?" The 18-page comic has attractedinterest from various media outlets as well as various diabetesorganizations. Keeping the ball rolling, Kamaal plans to do a national tourto help children afflicted with the illness.

The other winners are nurse/educator KC Arnold, who distributeddiabetes supplies to Hurricane Katrina victims; the Children With Diabetesquilt, a project that tells the life stories of children with diabetes; JayLeeuwenburg and Denny Dressman, authors of the book Yes I Can! Yes YouCan!, a chronicle of Jay's struggle to balance his diabetes with his 9-yearprofessional football career, the Asian outreach program at The JoslinDiabetes Center, a model bilingual program, Maurice Madden, whose film "TheDebilitator" educates the African-American community about diabetes,Bernard Siegel, whose work on behalf of the diabetes community promotes anopen debate on stem cell research and Kendall Simmons of the Super Bowlchampion Pittsburgh Steelers for his work helping kids with diabetes.

"The range of winners provides some real insight into just how widelythe diabetes epidemic impacts our society," says Howard Steinberg, the CEOand Founder of LifeMed Media, parent company of dLife, who lives with type1 diabetes. "And perhaps more importantly, the variety of winnersdemonstrates how people of all ages and backgrounds are learning to takecontrol of diabetes and lead incredibly successful and satisfying lives."

About LifeMed Media and dLife LifeMed Media is the first multimedia healthcare communications companycreated to serve chronic disease populations. Its flagship venture,dLife-For Your Diabetes Life!, is the first integrated media networktargeting the estimated 21 million people living with diabetes and theircaregivers, families, friends, and those at risk of developingdiabetes-some 80 million in all.

dLife provides knowledge, insight, adviceand inspiration to this group through dLifeTV, dLife.com, dLifeRadio, anddLifeConnect. For further information please contact Tom Karlya @ 203-221-3453 orkarlya@dlife.com. You can also visit our website as http://www.dlife.com. Available graphics: dLife logo, Brothers with Omega Boy comic book,Adam Morrison action shot, Lee Iacocca.SOURCE dLife