TRIABETES TEAM CAPTAIN VIDEO!

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Experiential Diabetes Education



I just thought I would share a video of one of the excursions Insulindependence has sponsored for kids with diabetes. What an amazing experience they were able to have! I know from my weekend in St. George with the other 10 Team Captains how life changing it can be to spend time with other diabetics who have the same goals in mind. It helps you to realize how important it is to take care of yourself, and helps you to feel like you really are not alone. (Of course we know that we aren't, and that there are others out there just like us, but it feels good to be surrounded by them and to hear their stories and to see how they take care of themselves. It inspires you to do a better job of taking care of yourself).

Insulindependence is the group I am raising money for. The idea behind this nonprofit organization is not the same as the ADA or the JDRF who are actively researching cures to diabetes. Their idea is to help diabetics to manage their disease through peer-supported fitness and adventure programs. They want to inspire people with diabetes to set personal fitness goals, to educate them on how to manage diabetes through hands-on experience. This is why it makes sense to me! I would love for them to find a cure...but in the meantime, what can I be doing to live a healthy and full life? By racing in an Ironman I am proving that there really are NO limits for ANYONE!

There are a couple other videos I'll share sometime, but I thought this one was pretty neat. Can you imagine getting to go to Machu Picchu as a teenager? I have found that sometimes having things like diabetes or cancer or other diseases tends to open up doors that otherwise would not have been yours to go through. Of course there's the whole trade off that you have a disease...but still! There are some positives in every situation if you choose to look for them.

I hope this helps people to understand exactly what it is I'm racing (and fundraising) for. If you haven't visited my fundraising page, go to HERE

2 comments:

jpnairn said...

The way I see it, the search for the cure is one way we fight diabetes. But I've been diabetic for 36 years and likely will be for the rest of my life.
There is another way we fight diabetes, and that is by living our lives the best we can in spite of it. For me, that's what InsulInDependence is about.

Anonymous said...

YOU ARE AWESOME!!!
I dint know you are diabetic. I know you werent when we lived together 18 years ago! Can you believe it has been that long? Please check your feet and shoes every day. Break your shoes in slowly long before a race. We recently had a patient that lost his cell phone and found it a week later in his shoe! He had been walking on it for the whole week and had to have the first part of his foot amputated. Keep up the great work and make sure to post on your blog. It makes me very happy when I read it! I really enjoy your sense of humor!