SOUTH THOMASTON – Not long ago, 11-year-old Jacob “Jake” Paquette was sticking himself with needles eight times a day to keep his diabetes in check.

Now, the South Thomaston youngster conveniently treats his disease with a computerized insulin pump the size of a pager, thanks to medical advancements.

Jake’s diagnosis at age 8 pushed his parents, Jon and Pam Paquette, into learning more about the disorder and then taking action.

“We wanted to do something more in helping to cure diabetes,” Jon Paquette, 38, said.

About a year ago, the Paquettes and John “Gomez” Honas of Augusta, who has Type 2 diabetes, had contacted the American Diabetes Association about raising money for the organization, so the trio teamed up to form Bikers Against Diabetes.

In the first ride last summer, they managed to raise $10,000 for the ADA, which will be spent only in Maine for such purposes as research, education and treatment.

They are planning the second annual ride for Sunday, July 24, in Augusta to raise awareness and cash for the ADA. The starting point is the American Legion hall on Route 17 in Augusta.

“Maine’s BAD Ride” requires a lot of wheeling and dealing long before the 100-plus-mile gypsy tour takes off. So the fund raising starts now.

Organizers have enlisted well-known South Thomaston artist Ronald Frontin to contribute a print to raise money. The print will have a “sidebar,” Paquette said, which will make it one of a kind. It will be exhibited and for sale at a local art gallery and should yield $5,000, he said.

BAD is soliciting the donation of a new motorcycle to raffle, Paquette said, noting it doesn’t matter what make it is. The group also is seeking donations from area businesses of gift certificates and merchandise that can be raffled the day of the event.

Participants in the ride pay a registration fee of $35 per driver and $15 per passenger. With that, they receive lunch, a T-shirt and raffle tickets. Entrants are encouraged to raise funds before the bike excursion. The top five fund-raisers each will drive away with 25 pounds of lobster donated by local lobstermen.

Nationwide, diabetes affects more than 18 million people, Paquette said. In Maine, 73,000 have the disease. Diabetes can be serious, resulting in blindness, lower extremity amputations, heart disease and stroke.

Type 1 diabetes usually is diagnosed in children and young adults. In Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin, which is necessary for the body to be able to use sugar. Sugar is the basic fuel for the cells in the body, and insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. In Type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin.

It wasn’t until Jake was 8 that his diabetes surfaced.

It was summertime, and he was thirsty, his mother said. Jake was “drinking 2-liter bottles of soda in an hour,” and he was urinating a lot.

“My mother noticed it,” Pam Paquette, 38, said. “I just thought it was because it was August.”

Jake was “real fussy and whiny,” too, she said, which was not like him. “He’s real laid-back.”

His parents took him to Dr. Emery Howard in Rockland, and he was sent to Maine Medical Center in Portland the very next day.

The Owls Head Central School fifth-grader wears his insulin pump on his belt. A thin tube runs from the electronic box to his belly, where it has been inserted into his skin. Every hour, a programmed amount of insulin is released automatically into his body.

So instead of being injected seven or eight times a day with a syringe, he inserts a needle every two or three days with the pump, his mother explained.

Now there is nothing keeping Jake from doing what he likes most: soccer, baseball, four-wheeling, fishing and hunting. Yet he will be insulin-dependent for life.

Anyone interested in learning more about BAD or wanting to donate money can call Jon Paquette at 594-5254 or e-mail him at jopake@midcoast.com or visit www.bikersagainst

diabetes.com.