Let's Make A Difference

No one should be handed a death sentence when they are handed a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. But that, my friends, is the reality in many parts of the world.

This should not happen. Insulin is not a cure but it is treatment and that is what these people need yet many do not have it.

If you are reading this than diabetes has touched your life in some way right? And so if there were an easy way for you do something to make diabetes care a priority in the world you would probably do it right? I mean, you don’t have to spend a dime, leave your house, or even your chair.

Would you do it?

The International Diabetes Federation has a campaign going on now to influence the president of the United States to attend he upcoming UN High-Level Summit on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases on September 19-20 in New York. We need President Obama to send a message to the world and influence other world leaders to see that we need to act and get treatment to everyone who needs it.

So here is what you can do.

Right now you can create a postcard online that will be sent to President Obama to help encourage him to attend the summit. That is not a lot of work for something that can potentially make a big difference.

Click here to get the info no how to make your postcard and get it sent out. 

Hopefully with all of our efforts we can make diabetes a priority around the world and people who need the life support of insulin will get it.

No one should die of DKA. Ever. 

Loco for Coco

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.

Once Upon a Time Contest

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.

Friends For Life 2011 - Part One

Last week was one of the most amazing weeks I have ever had. I was blessed to be able to attend the Children With Diabetes Friends for Life conference in humid Orlando Florida.

When I heard all about CWD from my friend Sara years ago I knew I wanted to go but never thought I could pull it off. When I heard that they were focusing more on adults with type 1, I knew I needed to be there. 

I took a red eye from LAX to MCO on the 4th of July which made for a colorful take off that is for sure. After a flight that had it's share of drama, I made it to Florida at 7am! YIKES!

I roomed with my buddy Scott Strange and thankfully he was up when I got in. I had been sick to my stomach the whole flight so I knew I needed some rest before I tracked down the rest of my d-friends. Scott took off and let me sleep for several hours which really did the trick.

Later that night I got to meet my beautiful neice. She is a doll and I had the honor of feeding her as she filled her diaper in my arms and promptly fell asleep. I just looked at her, smiled, and welled up with tears the entire time. I love her and her family so much.

Later that day and throughout the night I kept running into all these friends from the DOC which made for smiles around every corner!

One of my favorite moments was during the Grand Opening. Oliver Double, former comedian and father of two type 1 sons, did the opening keynote called "The Importance of Humor." He made mention of some funny answers to questions he had posted on the CWD site and said his favorite was a from a guy who calls himself Scott Strange! It was so awesome because we were right up front sitting with Scott so I was able to snap a sweet picture. 

 The focus groups and sessions I went too were amazing. To get into it all would mean a long borning post so I will just highlight some moments.

Scott and Kerri did a session on Finding Support Through Social Media and one thing that I loved about it is that Scott had his diet sodapop in his hand the entire time!  

I found one of my new heroes. Joe Solowiejczyk made me feel so much less alone. When he talked about his diabetes story I heard so many parallels to my life that I had to make sure I went up and talked to him afterwars. He was inspiring, candid, and most of all, real. I hope our paths cross again. 

I also got to meet my kin folks. Kendall Simmons from the Pittsburg Steelers. I asked him I could tell everyone that we were cousins and he said sure.  

The exibit hall had some great opportunities for some fun pics too!

Of course any trip to an exhibit hall tends to be filled with swag. I got some glucose tabs, GlucaGel, a meter, and lots of other stuff.

But by far the greatest thing I brought home was this picture.

Thank you so much Caleb. I cherise this picture!

it was an amazing time and I plan to write more. There is so much more to share but I will leave you with a few pictures that prove that we have made friends for life!

You Tube Tuesday #230

Last week I attending the Children With Diabetes Friends For Life conference and it was amazing. So much to tell you about. So many great moments. Lots of tears. Even more laughs. And the hugs seemed to never stop!

In other words, I loved every second of it. More about the conference tomorrow and many posts to come.

But today I thought I would share a clip that sort of came up in conversation last week. You see, my awesome friend Jessica who was at the conference brought her awesome Husband and type awesome, Josh who was sporting a "Cheat" shirt one day. The Cheat is a character from Homestarrunner.com which is a site I used to visit all the time.

Anyhow his shirt made me think of this clip from the site and of course I spent the next few minutes doing my best Strong Bad impersonation. If you think this clip is funny you should check out Homestarrunner for more stuff. It's classic internet entertainment.

Enjoy!

You Tube Tuesday #229

This is Maggie. She loves her trampoline and in this clip she drops a sweet rhyme all about it.

This is my buddy's daughter and she is awesome!

Enjoy!