Loco for Coco
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 8:32AM We are Disney people. We have had annual passes to Disneyland for years, love spending Sunday afternoons at the Disney’s California Adventure, and even spent our honeymoon at Walt Disney World!
We love Disney.
So when I was invited to a special event at CWD last week to hear about a new collaboration between Eli Lilly and “another well known company” I was overjoyed that it was none other than Disney!
That right there put a smile on my face but then we were told that Disney is introducing a character called Coco who has type 1 diabetes.
NO WAY!?!
You know me, I instantly started to well up with tears. How awesome is this? As a kid who loved to watch cartoons and loved Mickey Mouse it is awesome to think he has a friend who has type 1. As an adult it is a great way to get some education to other parents, other kids, and offer some feeling of normal to those kids that have it. Now they have a character to identify with.
I asked if there was going to be merchandise like Coco watches, maybe a Coco walking around the parks, or even a cartoon. Right now that is not in the works.
I told the representatives from Lilly, “As a person with diabetes I want this disease to be hip. I know that sounds awful but it’s hip to show your support against AIDS and breast cancer but not diabetes. With Coco there is an opportunity to make it cool to support people with diabetes and that would be a very cool thing!” Who knows if my little outburst will help but I had to say it.
There has to be a way to make the world see that fighting diabetes and supporting those with this disease is a very cool thing. We need that attention and I have a post brewing for tomorrow that will touch on that more seriously.
So here she is! COCO!
There is even more to the whole Disney/Lilly collaboration.
Family.com, a site owned by Disney, has added a section about diabetes! Check it out!
And then there is the Once Upon a Time contest.
Check out the info directly from the Press Release this morning.
To commemorate the collaboration and spark a national dialogue about diabetes, Denise Jonas,(2) mother of the multi-platinum album selling and Grammy nominated Jonas Brothers, announced today the launch of the Once Upon a Time Contest. Having personal experience with raising a diabetic child after her son Nick was diagnosed at the age of 13, Denise is looking forward to sharing her unique story of how the Jonas family adjusted their everyday lives upon being impacted by diabetes.
"When Nick was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, our family's world was turned upside down," says Denise. "Suddenly, caring for Nick was more than just making sure he was loved, happy and safe; making sure he was healthy, while still living a full and active life, became our top priority. Although the adjustment was challenging, it ultimately brought our family closer together."
Now, Denise is encouraging parents and caregivers like her to enter the Once Upon a Time Contest by submitting an original written work, such as a poem, story or essay, inspired by their child's experience with type 1 diabetes. The best entry, as determined by a panel of independent judges, will be featured on Disney Family.com's type 1 diabetes website, www.family.com/type1, and the winning family will have the opportunity to attend the 2012 children with DIABETES conference, Friends for Life, in Orlando.
For more information on the Once Upon a Time Contest, please visit www.onceuponatimecontest.com. The contest begins today, July 14, and will remain open for entries through November 30, 2011. The winning family will be notified by January 30, 2012.
Now besides this just being uber awesome there is something else about this contest that I love. It sheds light on the Friends For Life conference and Children With Diabetes! You see, unless you are online or have heard from someone else, CWD doesn’t do any actually advertising. This is a way for the word to get out about this awesome life changing event and I hope that it means for an even bigger turn out next year! Every family affected by type 1 diabetes should come to Friends For Life and now so many who didn’t even know about it will have an opportunity to come. I love that so much.
Reader Comments (7)
I agree with you about the shedding light on FFL point. When they announced that that was the prize, I got that warm and fuzzy feeling all over and said "aw" audibly. :)
i think your 'outburst' is totes legit and i hope they take it to heart. i also agree that it's great that FFL will be getting more attention because of this contest. how exciting! :)
I absolutely LOVE Coco! I think she is now on par with Daisy Duck as my favourite Disney character.
This is the first time I've heard of the FFL project but after reading your post I will definitely look into it more and I'm sure my family will definitely be interested too.
A wonderful post! :)
Coco is cool :-) I also want diabetes to be hip and cool. just look around the DOC we are a batch of hip and cool people.
George, I've been so impressed with this concept and been reading all the posts about it with excitement. I probably would've reacted the same way. This is sooooo cool!!! And yes: You've got a great idea - they SHOULD have Coco walking around the park and showing off her D-Life! Good stuff, my friend. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thanks for making the comment about diabetes.
Hopefully they listened because you were spot on with your comment.
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Hi, I appreciate the information that you have provided in the post. It is worth noting and I really liked the presentation as well.