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Canada NewsWire
October 28, 2003
Victor Garber unites with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in PSA campaign
Canadian actor, living with juvenile diabetes, helps kick off Diabetes
Month
TORONTO, Oct. 28 /CNW/ - Canadian actor Victor Garber is using his
personal experience with juvenile (type 1) diabetes, and his personal
friendship with actress Jennifer Garner, to help raise awareness and research
dollars for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in a new public
service announcement. The PSA, shot exclusively for JDRF Canada on the set of
the hit television show, ALIAS, will air on CTV beginning in November, kicking
off Diabetes Month in Canada and JDRF's primary awareness campaign.
The PSA marks the first initiative in a new partnership between Garber
and JDRF Canada, leveraging his celebrity and personal connection to the
disease to raise awareness of JDRF and its mission. "I've had juvenile
diabetes since I was twelve-years-old and know first-hand that insulin is not
a cure for the disease, it is just a control," says Garber. "I'm happy to do
my part, in whatever way I can."
JDRF Canada focuses its funding efforts on human islet transplantation,
the area of scientific research that provides the most promise towards the
goal of finding a cure for type 1 diabetes. "We've made the important decision
to invest our research money in the area that shows the most promise and
offers the most viable opportunity for a cure. The discoveries over the past
thirty years in the area of human islet transplantation have led us to our
current situation; close to 300 people in the world have received a new lease
on life by undergoing the islet transplant procedure. Not only is their
dependence on insulin reversed, severe complications that they were facing
have been stopped in their tracks. It's important to note that this
breakthrough research is taking place right here in Canada," says Ron Forbes,
president and CEO, JDRF Canada.
"As a Canadian, I take pride in the knowledge that Canadian researchers
remain at the forefront of the ground-breaking research going into finding a
cure, and that they are behind some of the most recent and most exciting
discoveries," says Garber.
Forbes says that he and JDRF Canada are grateful for Garber's support in
helping the organization achieve its objectives. "Anything we can do to raise
awareness of our mission takes us one step closer to finding a cure," he says.
Garber went one step further by asking his co-star, actress Jennifer
Garner, to shoot the PSA with him. "Jennifer is a close friend and very
supportive of me and the cause, having watched me struggle to manage the
disease while dealing with the demands of a busy shooting schedule."
About JDRF
JDRF's mission is clear -- to find a cure for diabetes and its
complications through the support of research. Since its inception, JDRF has
provided more than $900 million to diabetes research worldwide, which is more
than any other not-for-profit, non-government health agency in the world. Its
world-renowned research has been responsible for almost all of the major
breakthroughs on the path to find a cure. For more information, please visit
www.jdrf.ca, or call 1-877-CURE-533 (287-3533)
For further information: copies of the PSA, photo of Mr. Garber or to
arrange an interview with Mr. Garber about his experience with juvenile
diabetes, please contact: Lisa Bednarski, Kim Cornofsky or Erin Sufrin at
Cohn & Wolfe, Tel.: (416) 924-5700, E-mail: kim_cornofsky@ca.cohnwolfe.com;
Zaheer Molu, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Tel: (905) 944-8700,
Email: zmolu@jdrf.ca
© Canada NewsWire 2003
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