HOULTON – Tyler Delano was all smiles Tuesday as he stood before more than two dozen members of the local Diabetes Support Group to talk about his battle with the disease.

Standing in front of such a group can be a terrifying experience for many adults. Compared to the three injections and four blood-sugar tests that the 8-year-old has to endure every day, however, it wasn’t that bad.

Tyler, who lives in Houlton, was 31/2 when he was diagnosed with Type I or juvenile diabetes. Last year, he was the Maine poster child for the American Diabetes Association.

“He’s just like any other child,” his father, Dana, told the group gathered at Houlton Regional Hospital. “He likes sports like basketball and swimming.

“The real challenge is you have to plan the day around food and insulin,” Dana Delano said.

Diabetes is caused by too much sugar, or glucose, in a person’s blood.

In Type I diabetes, which is most common in children, the disease is caused by damage to the pancreas. The pancreas contains beta cells that make insulin, the hormone that helps other cells take in the glucose they need. Without the beta cells, the body makes no insulin and glucose builds up in the blood.

Type II diabetes is more common, especially in people over age 40. With Type II diabetes, a person’s body doesn’t make enough insulin, or sometimes, it is ignored by the cells, so glucose builds up in the blood.

Last March, the United States Postal Service issued a special 34-cent stamp to help draw more public attention to the disease, which kills more than 193,000 people in the United States each year, according to the American Diabetes Association.

The stamp was designed by Richard Sheaf and illustrated by James Steinburg, according to Leigh Cummings Jr., the postmaster at Houlton. It features a microscope and a test tube containing blood.

“The need for awareness about the disease is great,” said Cummings, whose family also has had to deal with diabetes.

“Of the 16 million Americans who have diabetes, one-third, around 5 million people, don’t even know they have it,” he said.

Dana Delano said that while his son looks and acts like other boys his age, “you can’t just go on a four-hour snowmobile ride,” he said.

In addition to his daily shots and tests, Tyler also must eat six times a day to maintain proper blood sugar levels. He has to have three snacks in addition to his three regular meals. All meals have to be monitored.

“When we go to McDonalds’s, he can have only so many french fries,” said the elder Delano.

“You think of fruit as being good, but he can’t eat a whole apple like most people,” Delano said. “He can only have half.

“With diabetes, you can’t take a day off,” he said.

The disease, if not controlled, can damage a person’s eyes, kidneys and nerves. In some cases, nerve damage can result in foot or leg amputations. People with diabetes also can go blind, and it also can lead to heart and blood vessel disease.

Dr. Hassan Abouleish told the group that people with diabetes are at greater risk of heart attack than people without the disease who already have had one attack.

“You’ve really got to take this seriously,” he said. “This is a very serious disease.”

For more information about diabetes, call the American Diabetes Association toll free at 1-888-DIABETES.