About a mile into our second walk to cure diabetes, Ruby, who was about to turn 3 years old, turned around in her stroller, looked me in the eye, and said,
“Why are we doing this, anyway?”
“To raise money for people to learn about diabetes and
hopefully find a way to make it easier to live with it. Or even to fix it.”
“Oh…okay.”
That’s why we’re still doing this. And we’re
encouraged.
JDRF is funding research for biological and technological
advances which show true promise. The
updates have been coming thicker and faster over the past couple of years, with
encouraging progress on a variety of fronts.
Most promising, in our opinion, is the possibility that a ‘bionic
pancreas’ system which would regulate Ruby’s blood sugar with little input
needed from her, will be available before she graduates from college.
Even at 3, Ruby immediately understood that the reason we
were taking this seemingly endless walk in the windy drizzle was a good
one. Even at 3, she knew that she didn’t
like the pokes and prods of diabetes.
She didn’t like the need to eat when she wasn’t hungry, or to avoid the
donut holes at playgroup. She knew she
didn’t like how uncomfortable she felt with low or high blood sugars. Maybe she even knew that she didn’t like how
anxious and distracted diabetes sometimes made her parents.
Ten years later, we’re still walking, for reasons which aren't much different. We’ve walked in different towns, with
different people. What’s remained the
same is that we’ve walked closer and closer to our dream of a safer, healthier,
easier life for Ruby.
We’d like you to walk with us this October, in body or in spirit.
While writing the letter is a challenge, watching the response makes it worth it. I'm pleasantly surprised every year to be reminded that friends, coworkers, family and even tangential acquaintances care about the impact diabetes has on us and on so many other people. We've raised about $2000 this month and have a team of 15 people walking, with the possibility of more of each to come. I'm glad we're doing this!
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