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It was only after the elevator doors closed that we realized that our 5-year-old daughter, Harmony, was missing.

"Where's Harmony?" I shrieked as the people-packed elevator began to ascend.

Two floors later, I got off the elevator, ran down two flights of stairs and found her striking a nonchalant pose in the foyer. A kindly woman had stayed nearby until a guardian of some sort arrived. All was well.

Really, though, I needn't have worried.

The Grandover Resort & Conference Center in Greensboro was filled that weekend with mothers, fathers and grandparents all deeply concerned for the welfare of their children and grandchildren.

My family and some 900 other participants booked the place for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's North Carolina Statewide Retreat.

There for our 8-year-old daughter, Zoe, who has Type 1 diabetes, my family enjoyed yummy low-carbohydrate food, a brief dip in the kid-crowded pool and a chance to meet other parents facing the same challenges. For two days, Zoe was one of many kids with calloused fingers and an insulin pump strapped to her side.

The dialogue tended to repeat itself. We all had the same stories of a prolonged illness such as the flu, followed by copious urination, weight loss and hunger.

"We didn't have a clue" was the frequent refrain or "I had no idea how much work this disease is," followed by rueful smiles and knowing glances.

"And it's so expensive," many added.

The Saturday training sessions covered topics such as managing skills, parenting strategies, low-carbohydrate cooking methods and research updates.

The coping sessions offered by Dr. Echo Meyer, a faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Medicine, were standing room only. All of us were willing to sit or lean against a wall in the large room if we could learn just one tactic that would make our lives easier.

We are tired and desperate. We are so tired.

Some of us have children who are so compliant that it breaks our hearts. And some of us have children who willfully endanger their health each day with skipped insulin doses and missed blood sugar tests.

The research updates were somewhat encouraging. As always, the cure is just within reach, maybe in five years. Maybe in my child's lifetime. Or maybe not.

But the "good" news, we learned as we slipped into our coats and put away our pens, is that more and more children and adults are getting this disease. About 40 new cases are diagnosed per day in this country, according to the JDRF Web site.

And the more people who develop it -- Dan Hurley alleges that it is a pandemic in his book "Diabetes Rising" -- the sooner we will see a cure. Our country literally cannot afford not to find one.

When not praying for a cure for her daughter, Janice Carmac works as an editorial assistant at the News & Record. Contact her at janice.carmac@news-record.com or 373-7098.