Jan Rozich is all too familiar with juvenile diabetes. At age 6, Rozich's daughter and grandson were both diagnosed with the disease, and she wants a cure.

"(As a mother) you're living with it day to day, so you're always watching," she said.

Rozich was one of about 600 people who participated in the second East Lansing Walk To Cure Diabetes, hosted by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at the MSU Duffy Daugherty Football Building on Saturday.

She came to the walk as a part of a team of 25 friends and family members to support her 8-year-old grandson, Steven Klingbiel. Rozich said she has been waiting for a cure for juvenile diabetes, and the walk is a great way to help.

"It's calling attention to the fact that people live with this disease," she said. "It's a horrible disease to live with — there's currently no cure. They've been looking for a cure for 30 years."

About 400 people registered for the walk with an additional 200 people coming to support and raise money for juvenile diabetes research, exceeding the numbers from the previous year, said Karen Breen, executive director of the Detroit chapter of the foundation.

MSU football head coach John L. Smith, was the honorary walk chairman for the event and spoke about his niece's struggle with diabetes at the opening ceremony.

"The majority of people here are personally affected by it or walking for a friend or family (member)," Breen said.

Everyone who registered for the 1.5-mile walk tried to get as many sponsors as they could, and all proceeds go to the foundation, said Ron Dooley, the co-chairman of the East Lansing walk.

The amount raised from the event was expected to exceed $90,000 this year, Dooley said. The foundation holds six walks in Michigan, and East Lansing was just added last year.

"We've had great community support for this walk, and especially having the MSU campus here, it's great," Dooley said.

Rozich said diabetes is manifested differently in children than in adults, moving much quicker.

"In children, your pancreas shuts down completely, so within one to two weeks, you have to be on insulin or you'll die from it," she said. "We had to be ready to jump out of bed, run into the room and deal with the situation. It's a tense situation all the time."

Rozich pointed to the red pack Steven's father, Dave Klingbeil, was wearing around his waist.

It contained emergency supplies, such as gummy bears, for when Steven's blood sugar dips, along with blood testing equipment to determine when he needs an insulin shot.

"The means of taking care of the disease has come a long ways," she said, adding that it is hard to diagnose in children.

Twenty-two-month-old Caitlyn Kennedy was one such case, said her grandmother, Diana Kennedy.

A week and a half before she was diagnosed, Caitlyn started getting very weak. Doctors thought it was because she was teething and told her parents, Zeb and Nicole Kennedy, to feed her lots of sugar — fruits and juices — to give her energy, Diana Kennedy said. It wasn't until Caitlyn started vomiting and her breathing became labored that testing was done and doctors discovered she had juvenile diabetes, she said.

"She almost died," Diana Kennedy said. Athletes from several MSU teams, including swim, hockey and crew, were also at the walk giving signatures to the children.

Ross Weaver, a no preference freshman and member of the MSU football team, said he was excited to participate in the event.

"We came to support the kids," Weaver said. "I didn't know about this last year, but I heard it was a big thing."