Westmart Sells Sneakers for a Cure

Westmart market in Westport, Oregon is selling sneakers for the JDRF and team Hi Lili Hi Lo. We drove out to visit them today and were excited to see their wall of sneakers growing! They sold 10 while we were there, and hope to sell about 100 more over this busy labor day weekend holiday. Lili counted about 150 on their walls, and added one of her own as well.
If you are heading out to Astoria on Hwy 30 be sure to stop in and say "hi". Rumor has it that Westmart has the best Jo Jo's west of the Mississippi!

NWIBL Hits Home Runs for a cure!

The Northwest Independent Baseball League and the MOSA Umpires have joined Hi Lili Hi Lo in our fundraising efforts this year. NWIBL pledged to donate $10 for every homerun hit this season and they hit 24 out of the park! The umpires also got into the game after they met and talked with Lili, and made a generous donation of their own. Pictured here are some of the illustrious home run hitters and umpires at an all star game.
Thanks NWIBL and MOSA for your support!

Hi Lili Hi Lo 09!

Our new team t'shirts designed by the fabulous Amy Ruppel, portland artist and designer who graciously designed our shirts for us this year. This lovely shirt can be yours if you join our team and raise $50
The JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes in Portland is on October 4th at Oaks Park. To join or donate to our team please click on the links on the right side of the page.
We hope you will join us again this year!

JDRF Children's Congress meets the President!

click here to see the CC09 delegates and President Obama. My delegate is at the very beginning smiling at the camera.

We plan to keep up the momentum and plan some exciting meetings here in Oregon for the Promise to Remember me Campaign in August. If you have not yet signed up to be a mobile advocate click on the handy link to the right and join all of us who want a cure for type 1 diabetes.

Meanwhile to learn more about these events and future Children's Congress applications visit their website at cc.jdrf.org

JDRF Children's Congress Day 3

Updating this post with a great link to the senate hearing and some photos.
click here for the PR Newswire testimony coverage.

Mary Tyler Moore spoke candidly about how her eyesite has been drastically comprimised due to complications from type 1, and Sugar Ray's "No Mas" speech was incredibly moving.

Nick Jonas was compelling and quite brave to speak openly about his frustrations about having type 1, and Dr. Griffen Rodgers mentioned Sonya Sotomayer and how she was an incredible role model for the children's delegates, which I thought was timely.
The Children who testified had as important, if not even more moving accounts of living with type 1, but the audience had thinned out significantly by then. I was proud of all the delagates. It was crowded and hot and uncomfortable in that room and not a single kid misbehaved or worse, had a medical need.

Standing in line to get tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument blogging from my sister's phone. Blitz was busy, busy busy after a success Senate Hearing.L got to experience the paparazzi and crazy fans for a serious event with an important message.We are proud of the celebrities for their personal accounts and moving requests for funding.highlight of the day was riding the "Congress only" underground train between the Russel Building and the Capitol with Senator Merkley.Didn't have my camera. Hope to post pictures soon.Good article on PR Newswire and JDRF.org. Will post libks soon.

JDRF Children's Congress 2009 Day 2

Well, it was quite an eventful day at Children's Congress! The kids were all taken to the white house this morning to meet the President and were surprised with a guest appearance by Nick Jonas! A rock star and a world leader - how will I ever top that next summer! There is an article on the people website that talks a little about this event
In addition to that we were all invited to hear comments from an all-star panel of mentors which included Jared Allen, Alisa Weilerstein, Kalilah Allen-Harris, and Aaron Kowalski. The highlight for me was getting to see Mary, a personal hero of mine.

Mary Tyler Moore speaking at the Town Hall "Role Models in Diabetes"

JDRF Children's Congress Day 1

Just turning in from our first day in DC for the JDRF Children's Congress. We learned about a half an hour ago that the 150 children delegates will get to meet and take a picture with President Obama tomorrow morning. This is a really amazing suprise and everyone is very excited about it!
The photo is of the kids rehersing the Promise to Remember Me song to sing on the steps of the capital on Wednesday. It was a treat to be at the rehersal - I was amazed that all the kids knew the song really well and sang in tune (well, with the exception of one enthusiastic and loud child!)
Tomorrow will be another full day of events and training for the Blitz meetings on Wednesday.
It was a beautiful day here, a bit warm, but windy, so the sky looked beautiful and made the city picture perfect.

off to JDRF Children's Congress!

We are off to Washington DC to represent Oregon at the 10th JDRF Children's Congress. We are so excited to get this opportunity to make a difference and to be able to speak about why we feel it is so important to continue to fund research and programs to help find a cure for type 1 diabetes. It will be three years for L on June 26th. Can't think of any better place to be than in DC for this event! And yesterday it was announced that Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers will be there to testify to congress. Now that is "like totally awesome!"

Growing up Again with Mary Tyler Moore

Mary Tyler Moore's new book Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes, will be in book stores March 31st. It is sure to raise much needed awareness about type 1 diabetes. She is donating all the author's proceeds from book sales to the JDRF. Thanks Mary!
She will be appearing in these shows:
March 24th - Late Night with David Letterman
March 31st - Good Morning America
April 2nd - The View
April 6th - the Rachael Ray Show
April 22nd The Bonnie Hunt Show

The 2009 DiabetesMine™ Design Challenge

The 2009 DiabetesMine™ Design Challenge

Welcome to the 2009 DiabetesMine™ Design Challenge, an online competition to encourage creative new tools for improving life with diabetes.

Do you have an idea for an innovative new diabetes device or web application? This is your chance to win up to $10,000 to realize your design concept, and potentially help transform life with diabetes for millions of people.

This competition is open to all. We welcome entries from any individuals or organizations passionate about diabetes and product design ― patients, parents, caregivers, students, entrepreneurs, developers, engineers, etc.

We also welcome entries from kids under age 18, which will be judged in a separate category.

Three winners will be selected to receive the following prizes:

* $10,000 in cash for the Grand Prize winner;

- plus a mini-workshop with Health and Wellness experts at the global design and innovation firm IDEO;

- and one free access ticket to the “innovation incubator” Health 2.0 Conference planned for October 2009 in San Francisco, CA

* $5,000 cash for the “Most Creative Idea” category winner;

- plus a consulting session with IDEO design experts

* $2,000 cash for the winner of the Kids’ Category

The contest is open for submissions from March 2, 2009, to May 1st, 2009, at 11:59 pm Pacific time. Winners will be announced on Monday, May 18th, 2009.Submissions are accepted in the form of a 2-minute video to be uploaded to the DiabetesMine YouTube channel, or a 2-3 page written “elevator pitch” plus supporting graphics, also to be uploaded online. For details on entering the contest, visit the Enter the Contest page.

Submissions will be judged on three basic criteria:

• Relevance – how well does it solve a real-life problem for people living with diabetes?

• Clinical Efficacy* – how realistic and applicable is this product from a medical standpoint?

• Aesthetics – it’s the look and feel, Baby! How appealing is the pure design?

*Note that the “Most Creative Idea” category will reward the most visionary entry, even if it’s not quite ready for prime time from a clinical efficacy standpoint.

To get your creative juices flowing, you can view the many cool entries from last year by clicking here for the videos and here for the paper entries. Last year’s winners can be viewed here: LogforLife and Maximum Slide.

Remember, good design can be applied to anything, even something as “low-tech” as a carry case for fast-acting glucose.

Let the innovation begin!

Adopt Jacop the Diabetic Cat!

We met Jacob at the Oregon Humane Society today. Jacob has diabetes and we hope we can find a home for him. Here is the link to how to adopt or sponsor him:

Name: Jacob Code Number: 72222 Date Available: 12/7/2008 Adoption Fee: $35

Breed: Domestic Short Hair/Not Specified Pattern: Brown Tabby Color: Brown Tabby/White

Gender: Male Age: 10 Yr Weight: 15.0625 lbs. Location: Cattery - R

Jacob is a very sweet guy who needs a loving person in his life. He is very affectionate and loves to talk. He can be a little shy at first, but once he gets to know you he loves to be by your side. Jacob is diabetic and will require some extra care; talk to a staff member to learn more about his needs. He has lived with children before and is ready for a new home; come meet this special cat!

JDRF Children's Congress 09

We have great news to share! Liliana was selected to represent Oregon in Washington DC this June as part of a 150 member Children's Congress!
She wrote an essay addressing several required topics and was selected out of 1500 applicants. She will attend meetings with our Senators during a "hill blitz" and experience advocating for a cure for type 1 diabetes in our nations capitol. We are all amazed and excited!
Check the JDRF webite for news and updates about our adventure. I will also post news here.
Thanks for all your support!

JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes PSA 2008

New Hi Lili Hi Lo Tshirt Design

This is our new special edition Hi Lili Hi Lo t-shirt! It was designed for Lili by the ever talented Raina Telgemeier, illustrator of the Baby-sitters Club Graphic Novels! It is a drawing of Stacey, a character in the books, who also has type 1 diabetes.
These will be made for the kids on our team only, or you can buy one for a $10 donation.
How cool is that!

Swim Party Fundraiser!

A site for sore eyes

We have had a rough quarter. Lots of high numbers, lots of bounces and swings, it has been so frustrating for L. Well, we got a clue as to why at clinic last week. I have been so proud of her doing her own shots, but apparently she does them in the same place everytime and has made the sites so lumpy that she has become a bit insulin resistant.
Mystery solved, she is now struggling with lows while we try to adjust back her insulin doses.
By the way, this amazing Manga drawing was done by a 12 year old in taiwan for an awareness raising campaign. To see more check out this website
http://www.changingdiabetes.tw

ONLINE AUCTION benefits JDRF!

Check out this great auction for the JDRF! I learned about it this weekend at the Oregon Diabetes Educators conference. I went to volunteer for our chapter of the JDRF and met some interesting people. An educator told me about this auction put on by best selling author Brenda Novak.

Happy Bidding!

Hillary's Stem Cell Promise

April 11, 2007, Washington, DC - The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the world's largest charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research, praised today's historic vote in the U.S. Senate to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research with the passage of S. 5, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007.

This bill was Vetoed by President Bush. Twice.

Today I went to a town hall meeting hosted by Hillary Clinton. A woman asked her about her stance on stem cell research and she made a promise:

"When I am president I will sign the S.5 bill - it is time to end the war on science."

Hillary, I will vote for you if you will keep this promise.
This is the path to a cure.
Not just for Type 1, but for many diseases.

Here is a link to more about Hillary's views on science and stem cell research
www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=3566

This is an exerpt from her website:
Hillary will restore the federal government’s commitment to science by signing an Executive Order that Rescinds President Bush’s ban on ethical embryonic stem cell research and promotes stem cell research that complies with the highest ethical standards.

Here is a link to the history of the bill
www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-5

And finally, here is a link to what Obama has to say about Stem Cell Research. I also heard him speak recently and he expressed his committment to science as well.
My friend Julia sent me this link:
http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060717-statement_of_su/

Oregonians - lets make our votes count!

I must be dreaming...

I agreed to let L go to an all girls sleepover at her school tonight. There are 35 girls from the age of 7 to 12 and 5 adults. L is they only one with T1.

I must have been asleep when I said yes. Actually, I didn't say yes: Not officially. Her dad bought it as a gift for her at the school auction. "It will be fun for her," he assured me. What about me?

I spent the morning telling a good friend who is one of the chaperones everything I know about diabetes. I can't believe I have asked her to do this. She is being really sweet about the whole thing, but I am really stressed. This is the first time L will draw and inject her shots for dinner and breakfast by herself.

This is a big step for her. It has always been my goal to make sure she can enjoy the same things her friends can. This is a tough test. I am sure I wouldn't hesitate to let her go if she wasn't T1. That is the part that gets me.

She was going low (about 86) when we left, so we gave her a juice box. It was a half hour until dinner, an hour later then we usually have it. Oh, and they have cookies, and popcorn, and pizza, and ARRGH!

Well, she is there, so it is time for me to relax and enjoy my night off.

I promise to try.

The Ravioli Kid

I wrote this book. Yup...But I am not posting it because I feel the need to brag. I am proud of it, indeed, however I need to talk about the irony of this after what happened tonight.

L loves pasta - of course she does, or I would have never written a book called the Ravioli Kid. Tonight I bought some fresh organic ravioli for her dinner. She took one bite, after her insulin shot, of course, and refused to eat it because it had tomatoes in it.

The main character in the book is Stellina Pomodoro. Pomodoro in Italian is tomato. I can't believe I have a child who doesn't like tomatoes. It has been and is one of my favorite foods. More about that some other time.

For those of you familiar with Juvenile or Type 1 Diabetes, if you take an insulin shot, you HAVE to eat. If you don't eat you will go low, perhaps dangerously low. L has done this twice: once at home, once at camp. She had to have a "sugar shot" at camp (glucagon shot) She wasn't very happy about that. Nor was I.

I reminded her about that tonight, urged her to replace her carbs with another food choice, got mad. What else could I do? Have you ever tried to argue with a very drunk person and get their keys from them so they can't drive? That is what it is like to argue with a diabetic who is low.

But this is my child. First, I was angry because she was acting like a stubborn 8 year old, who I wanted send to bed with out dinner. However, that was not an option. The kid must eat, or, well, she could go into a diabetic coma. Nice...

She picked at her ravioli with big crocodile tears running down her cheeks. I had to leave the room and compose myself. Maybe she really didn't understand. I should take the time to teach her about her disease again, I thought. I went back into the kitchen and made her a peanut butter sandwich.

An hour later she says, "mommy, you are gonna be really mad, but I feel low." At least she noticed.

Sigh.