Kyle Balagno credits his wife for realizing that something wasn't quite right with their 18-month-old daughter. Pale and losing weight, Taylor also had an insatiable thirst.

“We'd go to a restaurant and she'd drink tumbler after tumbler of water,” the West Vancouver father of two says in a phone interview. “She was so thirsty she'd literally drink water out of the dog's bowl.”

A trip to the doctor's office yielded the diagnosis of a urinary-tract infection. The next day, Balagno's wife took her little girl straight back. A couple of tests and two hours later, the family learned that the toddler had Type 1 diabetes.

“It just came completely out of the blue,” explains Balagno, who heads an advertising and design company. “She was very close to ketoacidosis,” he adds, referring to a medical emergency that arises when there's too much acid in the blood.

After two weeks in the hospital, Taylor was well enough to go home. That was 12 years ago. Since then, she and her family have had to learn how to cope with Type 1 diabetes, a chronic disease in which the pancreas doesn't produce enough of the life-sustaining hormone insulin.

“Diabetes has to be managed 24 hours a day, seven days week,” Balagno explains. “The secret is balance: you have to be able to properly monitor the amount of food you're eating with the amount of activity you're doing with how much insulin you're getting. When other factors come up—like stress—everything can get out of whack.”

Although some cases of Type 2 diabetes can be managed by diet and exercise, people with Type 1 diabetes (also known as juvenile diabetes) require regular doses of insulin to survive. Up until three years ago, Taylor had to prick her finger several times a day to check her blood-glucose levels and do regular injections. Then she switched to an insulin pump, which her dad says has made life much easier. It can be programmed and delivers insulin in two ways: continuously at a low dose (to maintain a “basal” level) and rapidly in a larger dose (called “bolus”, usually given before meals).

Although managing her diabetes still requires constant monitoring and careful attention, Taylor doesn't let it hold her back. She plays field hockey, rides horses competitively, and recently returned from a two-week school trip to Europe.

Krissy Keyworth is another local teen living with Type 1 diabetes. The Abbotsford Grade 8 student was four years old when she was diagnosed. Like Taylor, she uses a pump.

“I love the pump because I don't have to live off a schedule,” Keyworth tells the Straight in a phone interview. She works out at a gym with her mom and loves hip-hop dance. “You just can't let it [diabetes] control your life.”

Keyworth has met others her age through a group called Abbotsford Children With Diabetes Family Support Network, and she says her friends are used to her managing her condition. “If they see me check my pump, they're just like, ”˜Whatever.' They don't really even notice.”

But Keyworth concedes the disease does cause her to worry, particularly about potential complications, such as amputation, blindness, kidney failure, and reduced life expectancy. And although the pump has made her insulin needs far less cumbersome than dealing with needles, it's not a cure.

Among the areas of research into Type 1 diabetes are the regeneration of the body's own beta cells without transplantation and the development of an artificial pancreas. Stem cells hold great promise in treating the disease, and many scientists have applauded U.S. president Barack Obama's recent support of research in that area.

Balagno says he's promised Taylor that there will be a cure by the time she graduates from high school in five years. To that end, he's helping raise funds for research into juvenile diabetes.

Two years ago, he took part in a cross-Canada cycling event called TeamH2V (Halifax to Vancouver). He and four others rode from coast to coast in eight days, establishing a Guinness world record and raising more than $800,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation along the way.

Now he and Taylor are gearing up for the 2009 Accu-Chek Cyclebetes Provincial Relay, which kicks off August 23 and travels from Newfoundland to British Columbia. Each provincial team consists of five adult riders and five youth riders rotating on a tandem bike. Plus, on April 3 he participated in a Cyclebetes 24-hour spin-a-thon at Rock Ridge secondary school.

“The clock is ticking,” Balagno says. “If we don't have funds, we're going to get set back. I'd hate to see research put on the back burner because of the recession.”

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Telus Walk to Cure Diabetes takes place at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium on May 31.