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This podcast is presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC – safer, healthier people.

Welcome to this podcast series on diabetes brought to you by the National Diabetes Education Program or NDEP. NDEP is a joint initiative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. This podcast is taken from the NDEP video, Five Communities Reach Out.

My name is Robert Clayton. My wife and I we came from Memphis, Tennessee in 1943. We opened up the cleaners in 1945. As of today, I’m still running that cleaners. Last year, I found out that I had diabetes. When I walk into the church where I joined when I came to California, it makes me have a good feeling.

My parents and our whole family – we been going to that church for over 40 years. I got married there; my children were baptized there, so we’ve had a long relationship with the church as part of our community. It’s an extended community.

I saw Daddy standing in the kitchen drinking water and couldn’t stop, he just couldn’t stop. He stood in the kitchen and he drank like 10 glasses one after another. I knew that was way more than excessive thirst. You know, and I knew that was one of the signs and I knew that it was time to go to the doctor so we went, we went that night.

You call it truth when something goes wrong, you know. I called everybody in the family.

And they ran some test and they reported that his sugar level was far too high, I believe it was 500 or something like that, and we just started reading books and asking questions and talking to people.

Stop all that gossiping and get the food on the table so we can get going.

And they said that he needed to enroll in a class, so he enrolled in the class and we all went to the class to take it with him.

My father tends to hear what he wants to hear. He continued to have one little piece of candy at night, because I wasn’t going to bother him. So, I rescheduled another appointment to reiterate what he could and could not eat. I then followed up and took my mother and father to the market to demonstrate there is a method of buying food.

You need to know the position where it is. If it’s in the 5th position -- remember they talked about it in class? They also taught you there are synonyms there are certain things that don’t necessarily say sugar, but they are sugar. No you can’t have any of those cookies so let’s just keep going.

But I like these.

No, No, No, Daddy.

My wife and my daughters, they stays right on top of what I eat, what I drink. I like these apples, here. They’re nice. And they make sure that I don’t eat things I shouldn’t eat.

It’s something that you can take care of yourself by eating the right type of food and the right seasoning you should have. Taking care of yourself is very important.

And God we do thank you for having this beautiful family of mine may they always be by my side.

These black-eyed peas are pretty good. Momma pass my plate around.

Above all, the bottom line is you need a good family to stand behind you. And with the help of my wife and my daughters, I feel very good about myself.

I appreciate everything you do. My loving wife makes sure that I eat the proper food. Thank you father for giving me a beautiful wife and a lovely family. Kiss the bride?

Shut up.

To order your copy of the Five Communities Reach Out video, visit www.ndep.nih.gov or call the National Diabetes Education Program at 1-800-438-5383.

To access the most accurate and relevant health information that affects you, your family and your community, please visit www.cdc.gov.