If you had asked me 10 years ago what I knew about Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) I don’t know what my answer would have been. That all changed when I got a panicked call from one of my best friends in the middle of the night the summer after my junior year of college. Ashely told me her dad had fallen into a diabetic coma due to extremely low blood sugar and had passed away at just 48 years old. In that moment T1D took on a whole new meaning for me and has impacted me ever since. To give you some background, he was diagnosed with T1D when he was 13 years old. At the time the only treatment available was to prick yourself, test your blood sugar and inject pig insulin - yes I said PIG. Doctors told him he would only live to be 47 years old because at that time the life expectancy of someone with T1D was much lower. He battled his entire life with the scary highs and the lows that come with fluctuating blood sugar levels (did you know that T1D is also the leading cause of blindness in adults?). T1D is not onset by an unhealthy lifestyle, in fact most people that are diagnosed with T1D are perfectly healthy. It is an unpredictable autoimmune disease that has devastating effects if not properly managed and there's nothing anyone can do to prevent it, or get rid of it. Put simply, T1D is when your body stops producing insulin (the hormone that gives people energy from food).
As I started learning more about the disease, I found out that research initiatives have vastly improved todays treatment. Pig insulin is no longer used as a treatment and research efforts are underway to use an individual’s own DNA to create stem cells that would replicate their missing/damaged islets that contain beta cells (these cells produce insulin that help the body digest and use food) in the pancreas, possibly leading to a cure. Currently, the best treatment is for people with T1D to give themselves insulin shots multiple times throughout the day and to constantly check their blood sugar to ensure it stays in balance.
After witnessing the struggles my friend's dad and family went through I wanted to do and learn more. I first became familiar with JDRF through Ashley and have since made an effort to become more involved. JDRF’s mission is to accelerate life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat T1D and its complications. I am proud to be part of ONE Group to raise money for JDRF to cure, treat and prevent T1D. We are a group of young professionals supporting this mission: helping the 3 million Americans with T1D fight this disease and get closer to finding a cure!
Can you imagine if every single thing you ate affected the way you felt to the extreme? If every day, for the rest of your life, you had to get multiple shots and battle highs and lows all day long? If you knew you were high risk for kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, stroke, amputation and pregnancy complications, no matter how many hours you spent on the treadmill or how many salads you ate?
Life with T1D is incredibly difficult, unnerving and, ultimately, life-threatening. But we CAN help. We can all make a difference and make life better for people with T1D. With every dollar that's raised, we help a fellow man/woman in need, we spearhead research efforts and we get one step closer to finding a cure.
Please join me and help support JDRF, the largest charitable supporter of T1D research, find a cure! You can donate today or I would love if you could join me at The ONE Party on November 15th (or both!), at American Spirit Works. Tickets are $75 per person or $125 for VIP and there will be cocktails, delicious food, music and dancing. Plus, the proceeds will go towards JDRF's efforts, so it's a party you can feel really good about celebrating.
If you can't make it to the party, you can donate online here or write a check. Please make checks payable to JDRF and include my name in the memo portion. You can mail checks to:
3525 Piedmont Road NE, Bldg 6, Ste 300
Atlanta, GA 30305
Thank you for your generosity and support!
Elizabeth Bairstow
