Brothers Beat Out Famous Faces
for
National Diabetes Award
By NICK SLOAN
Published: Friday, June 2, 2006 12:48 PM CDT
'Malcolm (left) and Kamaal Washington recently won an
award for raising awareness of diabetes. The older Kamaal
was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes early in his life. So far, The Washington
brothers have completed two comic books advocating awareness of the disease,
and a third one is scheduled to be published in the near future.
NICK SLOAN/The Kansan
The KCK brothers were voted in as one of the top three
winners by Internet users. Along with them in the top three were Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball player Adam Morrison, who won
the 2006 Naismith Award for being voted player of the year, and business giant
Lee Iacocca. Others nominated for the award included former Speak of the House
Newt Gingrich, actress Mary Tyler Moore, Pittsburgh Steelers football player
Kendall Simmons and the television show ER.
"The range of winners provides some real insight into just how widely the
diabetes epidemic impacts our society," Howard Steinberg, the CEO and
Founder of LifeMed Media, parent company of dLife, said in a press release. "And perhaps more
importantly, the variety of winners demonstrates how people of all ages and
backgrounds are learning to take control of diabetes and lead incredibly
successful and satisfying lives."
This was the first year of the award, which honors those who “make a
difference” against diabetes.
The nomination process began with the organization’s editorial staff forming a
list of Americans who are making a difference against the disease. Then
thousands voted online to name the three award winners.
Community activist Alonzo
“As soon as we woke up (one day this week), our dad told us,” Kamaal said. “It was an honor to win.”
“We were really excited and we jumped for joy,” Malcolm added. “It inspires us
to do more. We’re trying to make commercials with our comic book characters to
raise more awareness.”
"Kamaal and his brother wanted to do something
to bring more awareness to the illness," Alonzo
Alonzo
Kamaal and Malcolm’s mother, Dana Washington, said
her sons are inspired by commercials on Saturday network cartoons, the Cartoon
Network and the Disney Channel.
“The first step was comic books,” Kamaal said. “We
had to start smaller and we just keep hoping to raise awareness about
diabetes.”
With the increasing fame the brothers are now dealing with, they believe doing
interviews with various media outlets is a responsibility of raising awareness.
“You just have to put less important things to the side,” Kamaal
said, about the time needed to do interviews. “We have to go out of town. It’s
like a real TV show. Sometimes it takes along time.”
The interviews include one with CNN, and another with the Lifetime Network to
be aired on June 4, and radio interviews locally and nationally.
The future holds two major events for Kamaal and
Malcolm: a nationwide tour and the production of their third comic book.
“Our dad is working on the script now and soon we’ll be drawing the pictures,” Kamaal said.
On their tour, they will stop at different cities in an effort to raise
awareness for other children with the disease. They will also meet with
politicians in the cities they visit, in order to promote the need for more
funding.
Dealing with diabetes as well as allergies and asthma, Kamaal
has seen great support from teachers and fellow classmates.
“It was a major concern of mine,” Dana Washington said. “ In
grade school, there was only one class and teacher. (In junior high) there’s
not one teacher but several teachers.” Kamaal
currently goes to
According to Dana Washington, even without the award the brothers would have
many things to be proud off.
“If they didn’t win, they were still winners,” she said.
The