A Designing Woman's Smart MoveBy dedicating herself to mentoring and fund-raising, Emmy winner Jean Smart has turned her battle with diabetes into a fight for a cure.
By: Monica Corcoran
The summer Jean Smart was 13, her life suddenly changed. "I got my first kiss from the boy next door, which was pretty great, and I found out that I had juvenile diabetes," recalls Smart, who says she cried after being diagnosed. "Back then, all I knew about diabetes was that you couldn't eat candy and you had to get shots. What could be worse news for a kid?" Two hours later, however, a dry-eyed Smart was learning how to give herself a dose of insulin to regulate her blood sugar and how to adapt her diet. "It was horrifying at first, but I knew that I had to learn to deal with it," says the actress, who grew up to earn recognition on TV's Designing Women. Now a wife and mother, Smart continues to star on stage and screen. She recently appeared on Broadway in The Man Who Came to Dinner and now lends her voice to Pickles on the animated series The Oblongs. She also has recurring roles on The District and Frasier (for which she won an Emmy). But she still makes time to educate others about the disease. One in every 600 children currently suffers from insulin-dependent diabetes, which impairs the body's ability to process food into energy through insulin, the hormone that uses and stores glucose from food. Typically, a diabetic's pancreas fails to produce insulin, causing glucose to build up in the blood. "Kids need to be educated to take care of themselves like I was, because there is only so much a doctor can do," says Smart, who pitches in to help raise funds and awareness. In recognition of her dedication over the years, she was named woman of valor by the L.A. chapter of the American Diabetes Association in 1995. Just last summer, Smart joined Mary Tyler Moore and Kevin Kline in kicking off the Walk to Cure Diabetes in New York City, where, she says, "I heard children tell their stories." She has also inspired hope on a more personal level, by acting as a mentor to a teenager who faced the same issues that Smart had to deal with in her youth. More than eight years ago, she met a 13-year-old diabetic girl from Pennsylvania through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. "She and her family came to visit me in New York because she was having a hard time," Smart recalls. The two have kept in touch ever since. After the young woman became pregnant last year, Smart was able to share even more firsthand wisdom. In 1990, while starring on Designing Women, Smart and her husband, actor Richard Gilliland, found out that she was pregnant. Because her blood sugar was irregular, doctors advised her to abort the baby for her own health. Smart, who was eager to have a child, recalls, "I told them that it was not an option. I became a fanatic about monitoring my diabetes day and night." She also consulted with Lois Jovanovic, a specialist in diabetes and pregancy at the Sansum Institute in Santa Barbara. "I owe the ease of my pregnancy to her," says Smart. Connor, her son, was born healthy and is now 11. While diabetes can be managed, no cure has been found yet. This fact drives Smart in her work to help fund research as well as education. In March she flew to Louisville, Ky., to attend the Diamond Derby, an annual gala on the eve of the Kentucky Derby that raises money for local diabetes research clinics. "I knew Jean would enjoy it because she could talk to scientists about what they're working on," says the hostess, Tricia Barnstable Brown. No doubt Smart charmed guests with her upbeat attitude. "I always say that the good thing about diabetics is that we're all very sweet," she jokes. "It's that extra sugar in our bloodstreams." To donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, write to 120 Wall St., N.Y., NY 10005-4001, or call 800-533-2873. Learn more about diabetes at www.diabetes.org or by calling 800-342-2383. |