Every year, my friends amaze me. You come with open arms and wallets and support this amazing organization. The research JDRF funds has changed my life in a tangible way. It impacts me on a daily basis. It sustains my life and with recent advances, it will prolong my life. You are quite literally saving my life with every dollar you give, and that’s not an exaggeration.
I don’t want to sensationalize diabetes so I often don’t share the difficult parts of type 1 diabetes. My life is hard. It consists of multiple finger pricks and insulin injections and pump site changes. I am tethered to a device 24/7. I have to count everything I eat and drink. I have to plan every workout and know in detail what my day could possibly include. There are also complications—so far for me, minor ones.
There are many challenges, but after 23 years, most of them have become second nature, or even habitual. I’m able to make diabetes a shadow because of the technology available to manage this disease. That technology is thanks to you.
This year, together, we raised $7,500 for type 1 diabetes research. That’s the most I’ve ever raised for JDRF in any peer-to-peer campaign. That puts my lifelong total of bringing in more than $25,000 toward type 1 diabetes research. I am so incredibly proud of that, and I am also humbled by it.
I know the directions you are pulled. I know you have many worthwhile causes you could support, and yet you choose mine. Many of you do so year after year. I am so touched by that, and it’s hard to find the words adequate enough to say thank you. Know my heart is full and grateful because of you!
