Monday, May 21, 2012

Passport to Health Diabetes Initiative

Articles - Diabetes Articles
Monday, 13 December 2010 11:04
Last month was diabetes awareness month and I had hoped to post more than I was able to about all things Diabetes.  So, this month I am playing a little bit of catch up.

On November 3rd Jim, Sophie, Nate and I attended the Annual Mayor's Passport to Health luncheon at the Meyerson.  Nate is an ambassador for the JDRF Dallas Chapter and Jim and I are as active as we possibly can be with a 2-year old, a 4-year old and a 6-year old..  We were excited to attend and participate in the luncheon and also to meet some pretty

amazing people living with type 1 Diabetes.


Two of the speakers that we got to meet were pretty awesome in our book -

The 1st one was Robyn Cox.  Robyn was diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes at age 13. She always dreamed of being a dolphin trainer and didn’t let her Diabetes prevent her from becoming a leader in the field. We love Robyn and had been wanting to meet her for quite a while!  She is a dolphin trainer at Sea World in San Antonio and our children are CrAzY about Sea World and the dolphins there.  So cool!!

Robyn with Sophie & Nate

Robyn was such a good sport to take a picture with our 2 wiggly kiddos. After the picture when I picked up Nate I noticed a foul odor.  Oh yea - he had a poopie diaper - NICE!  Way to make us proud, Nate!!


The keynote speaker for the event was Jay Hewitt, an Ironman triathlete, international motivational speaker and practicing attorney. He was diagnosed with type 1 at age 24 and races to prove that Diabetes cannot stop him from achieving his goals. His speech was amazing and so inspirational.  He truly does not let his Diabetes slow him down and the stories that he shared prove it.

Jay with me and Nate

High-Five

As if these 2 people were not cool enough in our book --- both pump with OmniPod!  Oh yea - even at 2-years old Nate understands the concept of  "same".

It was a great thrill to meet these 2 and many others during this special day.  Oh yea and did I mention that I started it off with a little introduction thanking the Dallas ISD for donating the table centerpieces which were beta fish.  I then went on to try and educate those there about type 1 and how with type 1 the beta cells do not produce any insulin . . . blah blah blah.  Easy peasy - right?  Yea - not so much!  As soon as the following words came out of my mouth:

Because my son, Nate has type 1 Diabetes, his beta cells don't produce any insulin at all . . .

I was a mess.  A big bawling mess.  I tried to look out at the audience and visualize them in their underwear (ok, I learned that in high school speech class) but it totally didn't work.  Everyone I looked at was crying with me!!

So for the rest of my speech I looked directly down at my notes.

 


I was going to try and wing it at the advice of my husband but while I was up there I was so glad I had that little piece of paper to hold on to and stare at intently!

After I regained some composure I went on to say that Nate wears the OmniPod insulin pump (if you look closely Jim is holding a pod) . . . this is Nate's life support, but unfortunately it is not a cure.

I don't know why that was so hard for me to say.  It's not like I don't know that Nate has type 1 Diabetes or that his beta cells don't produce insulin.  Good grief - I live with it 24/7 -- why do I still cry?  Oh well, that's another post for another day!

The Houston Family would like to thank Mayor Tom Leppert and his wife, Laura along with OmniPod and JDRF for making this day a huge success.  We enjoyed it and were thrilled to be able to be part of such a great cause.

 
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