Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: fundraising, JDRF, type 1 diabetes, walk
On the eve of her JDRF walk fundraising efforts, Charlotte’s mom has created a special video in Charlotte’s honor… hope you’ll take a minute to watch and be inspired… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PSN9-Q2iJY
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: diabetes, fundraiser, hospitalization, JDRF
long time no blog… no excuses really… I do have an update… our daycare successfully raised $145 in the Caps for the Cure campaign we held… I have to admit I feel like it was a small victory, but my sister quickly reminded me that it is $145 that would otherwise have not been raised and given to our local JDRF chapter. I hope to be able to do it again.
Just was reading Kerri’s blog and see that one of her co-workers has done a day in the life of a diabetic, similar to the experiment I did a few weeks back… good to know I’m not the only crazy person who checks their blood sugars as an “experiment” to better understand a disease…
On a sad note, Charlotte had a scare this week and spent a day and a half in the hospital… her dad came home from work feeling ill and began to vomit… soon after my sister was worshipping the porcelain god and then unfortunately Charlotte too fell ill… vomiting is not a good thing when trying to manage one’s blood sugar… she’d already been low that day and this did her in… they had to take her to the ER and then she was admitted for dehydration. She’s home now and seemingly improved… my sister and her hubby are a bit slower to recover (but that’s what happens when we get old LOL). Nevertheless, I’m left to wonder, as I’m sure my sister and family do too, what the long term impact of these episodes may be… it just reminds me of how precarious her health is and how she really is kind of teetering on the edge… from one moment to the next her blood sugars can cycle so widely and then something like a GI bug that certainly would leave any of us feeling miserable can send her to the hospital in just a matter of hours. Just mind blowing really.
On a happier note, I don’t have to work tomorrow – it’s Independence Day! Time for fun in the sun!
Well, for two reasons actually… It’s both my youngest sister’s wedding day – she’s getting married on the beach in St. Lucia – and it’s our fundraiser day at Hannah and Sarah’s daycare for the JDRF. It’s a “caps for the cure” day and I hope to see lots of kiddos in their caps… the daycare just sent home the monthly calendar and per the usual summer schedule we have lots of special “pay to play” activities, so I hope the other parents take this special fundraiser in stride and the kids enjoy the “fun” of the “fun”draiser – today was crazy sock day so they are getting into the theme of dressing for fun… I think there might also be a crazy hair day too sometime this month! :-)
Alright now, who’s ready to take me seriously and put your dollars to work… I’ve made this lovely chart an everything… let’s have some fun… who’s ready to buy mile 30? how about mile 130? how about mile 300? Making cute graphics is fun and motivating, but seeing some donations would really make my heart sing! Feel free to use the online donation tool. Don’t make me call you out by name…. I’m doing my part- can you do yours?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bags of hope, JDRF, miles, pump wear, type 1 diabetes
so this week in total I accumulated about 14 miles… it’s time to make some kind of graphic to illustrate my trek… no one’s taken me up on the offer yet to buy miles, but perhaps you’re all just waiting to see if I’m gonna stick to this!
Trying to think of more ideas for making an impact… discussed some with my sister this morning, like making pump pouches for kids to make life just a little more fun (Charlotte has an entire fashion wardrobe of these) or making something similar to the “bags of hope” JDRF distributes to newly diagnosed kids… anyone got any ideas?
Charlotte thinks this blog is cool- its fun having the approval of a 4 year old… I just hope that I can accomplish some big things on her behalf… she’s such a sweetie and it sucks that her life has been permanently altered with this diagnosis…
So, I know I struggle with commitment… this is part of why I am blogging this experience- accountability. I’m hoping that knowing that somebody is out there reading I’ll be compelled to keep up my end of the bargain.
So this morning as I circled the track I thought of proposing the idea to you all to “buy a mile.” The good news too is that miles are cheap… just a $1! My plan as you know is to walk 500 miles between now and Charlotte’s JDRF walk (team Moochie’s Marathoners!) and raise $500 in the process.
Interested? Buy a mile, buy 5, buy 10… pick your mile – challenge me – wanna buy mile 357 – go for it – you don’t pay until I walk it! I’ve been thinking about creating some kind of cool graphic to post for you guys to see my miles and better yet for me to see my progress – how fun would it be for you and your donations to be scattered across my mileage map… sure seems it would keep me committed if I knew there was no cha-ching! until I did my part and walked the miles you bought… so let the mileage sale begin… drop me a comment, send me an email… pledge on the JDRF page. And I’ll get busy making that mileage graphic so we can have some fun with this.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: awareness, email, facebook, JDRF, shameless promotion, twitter
Not sure how this will all play out, but I’m trying to be proactive in spreading the word…
I’ve set up a Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26351698160,
I’ve twittered http://twitter.com/Lora_Shea about my new mission,
set up my JDRF page http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=87014117
and sent an email out to friends and family to spread the word…
There’s really not much to tell as yet… after all I’ve only just begun, but I wanted to share my enthusiasm and build momentum now so I hope my efforts will pay off…
I imagine there are many more ways to spread the word and I hope ideas reveal themselves in the coming days, but for now I think the main thing is to get the journey underway…
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 500 miles, fundraising, JDRF, type 1 diabetes, walk
So I’ve decided I’m on a mission… you see I have these two nieces with much the same story. Kaelyn will be turning 8 this June and Charlotte will be turning 5 in August. Both girls were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (or juvenile diabetes) around the age of 2 following a GI virus that unknowingly set off a dramatic immune response in their tiny little bodies and attacked their panacreas. It amazes me to watch both girls deal with a chronic disease at such young ages and breaks my heart at the same time. I’m busy raising “healthy” twins who are just 7 weeks younger than Charlotte, so I try to imagine walking in my sister’s shoes as she raises Charlotte and contends with her disease daily. And I’ve also watched in awe as my sister-in-law deals not only with Kaelyn’s diabetes but also a diagnosis of Celiac disease – essentially a gluten allergy, which only complicates matters more.
Each year Charlotte and my sister, Michelle, and Kaelyn and my sister-in-law, Anne sponsor JDRF walk teams in the girls’ honor and raise funds to seek a cure. Unfortunately my girls, Hannah and Sarah, and I don’t get to join them as we all live in different states. So this year, I’m on a journey from now until Charlotte’s walk date – 173 days from now- to walk 500 miles – walking in her shoes to raise awareness and hopefully, some money too, for JDRF and a cure. I’ll chronicle my journey here – I’m not sure where the path will lead but I’m excited to begin.
You can visit my JDRF fundraising page at
| http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87014117 |
