At the beginning of her journey, Henderson-Collins says, her commitment to change was halfhearted. "I'd walk a little here, a little there," she says. "I figured, 'Well, at least I'm doing something.' But it wasn't enough." She didn't even know her blood sugar then, she says, because she hardly ever checked it. But her understanding of diabetes grew as her family members dealt with their diabetes problems—and she's learned from her elders and children alike. About 7 years ago, "a lot of things started coming together," Henderson-Collins says. Her mother became sicker, needing frequent trips to the hospital to clear fluid from around her heart. On one visit, Henderson-Collins leafed through a diabetes magazine with recipes showing healthier ways to make foods she loved. "For me, food was a big obstacle," she says. "It opened my eyes to the fact that I didn't have to end up like others in my family."

That revelation came on the heels of another major turning point in Henderson-Collins's life—the birth of a homegrown organization called the Sisters Cycling Bicycle Club. It started when her oldest daughter, 40-year-old Charlene, took her family related diabetes risks to heart and decided to ride in the 7- to 50-mile Detroit Tour de Cure, one of many mass bicycle outings sponsored by the American Diabetes Association. Attracting 36 other African-American women to ride with her, Charlene asked her mother to join. "I said, 'Are you crazy? I'm too old, I've got too much caboose. I can't do that!'" recalls Henderson-Collins. "Charlene just looked at me and said, 'Ma.'" The exasperated tone in her daughter's voice said, "You're whining." Henderson-Collins joined the tour—and loved it.

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Three weeks after the ride, Charlene offered to buy her mother a gleaming new bike, a recumbent model that would be easier on her hands (and caboose). "I saw the price tag—over $1,000," says Henderson-Collins. "I knew if she bought it, I'd have to be committed to ride it." It took 3 weeks to decide she would make the commitment, but she accepted the gift. "It's been the most awesome thing," she says. She now rides the tour every year and regularly joins Sisters Cycling on other rides.

All Henderson-Collins' kids keep her—and themselves—active. With Charlene, Henderson-Collins also goes to museums and cultural outings. With 39-year-old Makeba, she goes shopping. With grandchildren, she dances—and has even allowed Shameka to take her to a hip-hop club. And Henderson-Collins now regularly monitors her blood sugar and keeps her numbers in a healthy range. "Because of our family history, we're all at risk," she says, "and we need to keep on top of it."