For many of her friends it is hard to believe that a lady in her mid-60s, who for all her life shied away from exercise and meals she called "rabbit food", is now an advocate for healthy living. The turning point was the 100 Day Challenge, a life-changing and arguably, a life saving decision for her.

Mary DeSilva in her words, "was bullied into joining a team" for the 100 Day Challenge. For that she is grateful. Mary, diagnosed with diabetes late in life, followed in the footsteps of her parents, who both died of the disease at a relatively young age, (65 and 75 years old).

"I took an average of their ages and figured my number will be up when I'm about 70," Mary, now 65 years old explains in a matter-of-fact way. She had accepted it without concern, she was happy with the life she had lived and did nothing to offset the diabetes. Insulin was a part of her life that she had always expected.

"Years ago there wasn't enough education about the disease." There was never any thought about preventing it — it ran in the family so I knew that it would get me too."

Now Mary, 65, plans to live well past 80. Mary smiles about her new outlook on life, "I didn't have the drive or urge to live a long healthy life. Now I want to live longer."

The results of Mary's 100 Day efforts speak for themselves and bode well for her desire to stay alive. After just four weeks of walking three days a week for half an hour her blood pressure was reduced so significantly that the clinic thought the machine was malfunctioning!

Upon a second reading that showed the same results it was clear that her consistent walking made a difference. Further, Mary was noticing frequent sugar lows and went to the doctor thinking that her diabetes was worsening. Quite the opposite — her insulin dose was too high for what her body needed and the doctor reduced her from 43 to 34 units.

"I was thrilled at the news. I had never experienced lows like that and I thought something was wrong. The doctor couldn't believe that I has started walking!" She admits, "I guess I was lazy."

Mary used to plan her drive home past a letterbox so that she could avoid walking to the post office from her Hamilton office to post the company mail. Other good news to follow included a significant reduction in "bad cholesterol" and her insulin dose is due to be reduced further again.

Ironically, Mary works at the Bermuda Diabetes Association Resource Centre at Beacon House, Hamilton. She joined there with the view to learning more about diabetes. She was the example of what not to do, until now.

Mary now walks for an hour, three to four times a week because she "enjoys the fresh air and the peace and quiet" and has changed her eating habits. She recalls, "When I came up it was all fried foods and potatoes," and she was determined to "live my life the way I want to live it," so she continued with those foods even after her diagnosis. Now she enjoys healthy eating and she proudly says, "and I do eat salads!"

Starting the walking routine was one of the hardest things but she did it for the others in the team. "I wasn't happy about having to do it," she recalls. "After that first half-hour walk at a medium pace I felt like I had walked miles and miles and I was exhausted." When the second walk came around all I could think was 'let it rain!' but we went, and after three weeks of struggling it started to get easier and we walked for a little longer."

Although Mary has lost only one pound from her starting weight she has realised that exercise isn't always about weight loss, it is for general health, well-being and in her case, a longer life.

Why does she credit the 100 Day Challenge for her success? Mary had attended the week long diabetes classes at the hospital but says although she heard what she needed to do it wasn't enough to kick-start her. "Because the 100 Day Challenge has gone on for so long and I didn't want to let the others down, it worked," she says. "Without that I don't know that I would have done it.

"I'm so glad that Sarah made me join the group."