Cole's Story

(As written by Cole and his mom 4 weeks after diagnosis as part of a presentation to his 1st grade class.)
I found out in August of 2007 that I have something called Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a condition where the balance between a hormone called insulin and digested food is uneven. Insulin is made by your pancreas (an organ that looks like your stomach). Insulin helps you take the food that you eat and turn it into energy.
     When someone has Type 1 diabetes they can't make insulin anymore. The good news is that you can take insulin to regain that good balance with the food you eat. The not-so-good news is that you have to take insulin by giving yourself a shot. I've had to take a lot of shots lately. Shots stink. You can also use an insulin pump, which is something that looks like a pager, but I haven't gotten mine yet.
     It is real important for me to have a good balance between my blood sugar (digested food) and insulin.
     Your pancreas works automatically to keep your blood sugar balanced. But because my pancreas doesn't work as well, I have to test my blood sugar.

A Thank You to Racers

Trip to Washington DC

Thanks to the support for the first Diabetes Dash for Kids, Cole was selected to go to Washington DC in June of '09 and took part in the JDRF's Children's Congress. Through Children's Congress and the support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) he was able to meet President Obama - "He was really tall, and really skinny, and... he sounded like a president." We were able to meet with Senators Collins and Snowe and Representative Pingree and ask them for their continued support of funding for type 1 diabetes.

It was a whirlwind week as Cole was also able to meet with Nick Jonas (also a type 1 diabetic), Mary Tyler Moore (also type 1), Sugar Ray Leonard (his dad had diabetes) and Jared Allen - the Minnesota Vikings sack master who advocates for type 1 diabetes research... just because he is a good egg.

It was very empowering to be in Washington DC and feel like we could help make a difference. Cole might be the face of the disease in our family but we know that we were actually in DC to advocate for all the children who couldn't be there — we are trying to be their voice.

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