Tadeusz (Tod) Majka was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when he was 31. His father had type 2 diabetes and died of a stroke, so Majka watched what he ate and monitored his blood sugar. But then he lost his job and health insurance. He slipped back into poor eating habits, and he stopped taking his medication because it was too expensive. At 38, the tool-and-die maker from Endicott, N.Y., was rushed to the hospital with diabetes-related heart disease, requiring open-heart surgery. Just as he was getting back on his feet, Majka was diagnosed with the sight-robbing condition diabetic retinopathy.