Wednesday, July 30, 2014

It has been too long!



 It has been too long since my last post. I have been a busy momma running around with the kids. I thought this would be the easiest way to update everyone…

I know all my amazing FB friends see me tirelessly asking for money, or support in some kind of way with JDRF. I am always posting a link of some kind with the newest updates on research and where all the money is going. I feel the need to share with you what I see happening on a far too regular basis in our community. And when I say "community" I don't just mean Prosper, or Dallas or even Texas. I mean to our children and adults no matter where they are. 

I have been very involved with JDRF for a while now. If you know nothing about this organization you should check out dallas.jdrf.org. That office has been my second home for the past year and I am truly grateful to the SMALL office of amazing women who work so hard to help find a cure. They have opened their arms to me and I am truly grateful. JDRF is the top funder of Type 1 research! They give 82 cents per dollar straight to research. With this organization you know where you money is going. That is one of the reasons I volunteer for them. I know when I am asking someone to donate that their money is going where it should. 

This past year I have been truly heartbroken to see the amount of children being diagnosed in the school district that my kids attend and also in the neighboring school districts the same thing is occurring. There have been 3 children in the past 3 months that I know of. Three families who lives have changed over night. Three sets of parents scared to death to send their kids to school next month for the fear of the unknown. 

Children's Hospital in Dallas has this great program called D101. It is an educational class for the children and families of newly Type 1's. It is every Wednesday, and every Wednesday it has a room full of newly diagnosed families. The classes are getting bigger, so big that Plano Children's is now accepting type 1 patients and starting their own D101 class. August 5th is the first D101 at Plano and their plan was to only have one a month, they already had to grow to 2 classes a month and they will soon be to every week just like Dallas. Stop for a minute and think about that. The Dallas area is getting so many families that they are having to expand to serve all the number of diagnosis.

My heart truly breaks for these families, but it also motivates me to keep asking for help. It inspires me to keep educating anyone around me whenever I get the chance. You might not have a family member with Type 1 diabetes but you should still educate yourself on what these children and families go through every single minute of every single day. Insulin is something your body produces that you most likely take advantage of, you never think about your insulin producing cells and how they work for you 24/7. Every time you eat, sleep, exercise, take a big test, go to the beach, etc your pancreas knows exactly what to do and does it perfectly every single time. What if you woke up tomorrow and it suddenly stopped? What if you had to check your blood sugar 10 times a day? Take multiple shots? Wear a pump? Wear a continuous glucose monitor? All of that just to stay alive? What if the insulin you were injecting in your body was the only medicine that can kill you if you take too much or too little and you have to make that decision multiple times a day everyday for the rest of your life? That is what myself and many other families face daily. This is why I raise money and volunteer and do everything I can to help this cause. The research is amazing! The research is so close to really changing lives. So please help. You can help with time, money or just a prayer for these families. You can help by educating yourself so when you see a little girl with a pump, checking her blood sugar on a bench at the playground you know! You know a little bit about what she goes through. Give them mom a hug and tell her how awesome she is, because so many people don't tell her, they just judge and stare. 

https://secure3.convio.net/jdrf3/site/SPageServer?pagename=walk_participant_center&pc2_page=center&fr_id=3884

2 comments:

  1. Lovely post. Thanks for writing this, and thanks for volunteering!

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  2. Nicely said! I'm so happy you are volunteering to fill this very important role! THANK YOU! - Tanya

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