When Joanne Erdmann of Monroe, CT wrote a letter to friends and family asking them to support Kimberly’s Klan, a team she put together for her granddaughter, Kimberly, to walk in the annual JDRF One Walk, she realized that lots of people don’t know what Type 1 Diabetes is or what life is like when you have it. “Type 1 diabetes is a girl or boy sitting on the bathroom floor praying someone will bring them sugar because they are too weak to get up,” she wrote. “They are fighting for their lives every day, so let’s fight with them to find a cure.” Explaining the daily challenge of diabetes has helped Joanne raise over $10,000 each year for 13 years for JDRF, the leading global organization funding Type 1 diabetes research.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that strikes children and adults suddenly. It has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. If you have T1D, your pancreas stops producing insulin—a hormone essential to turning food into energy. This means you must constantly monitor your blood-sugar level, inject or infuse insulin from a pump and carefully monitor your eating and activity every single day. There is nothing you can do to prevent T1D. And—currently—there is no cure.
Kimberly was diagnosed when she was just 2. Joanne remembers going to her house to help Kimberly’s mother hold her down so they could give her insulin shots. She remembers tiptoeing into her room at night when she would sleep over to prick Kimberly’s finger and check her blood sugar levels as Kimberly slept. “It was heartbreaking,” said Joanne. But scientific advances that JDRF supports have made life a little easier for Kimberly who now uses an insulin pump and continuous glucose sensor to help her manage her blood sugar levels.
“At our first JDRF Walk, about 20 people came to walk with us,” said Joanne. “I was so overwhelmed by people’s support.” In 2014, Kimberly’s Klan was honored as the “Walk Family Of The Year” and got to cut the ribbon at the start of the Walk. Girls from the Monroe Dance Academy where Kimberly danced surprised the family by performing at the event.
At 15, Kimberly now manages her diabetes largely on her own, but Joanne still knows it is a day-to-day process and a constant challenge. “I am really looking forward to the launch of an artificial pancreas whose development was funded in part by JDRF,” said Joanne. “It is a disease that never stops, so any help that can make Kimberly’s life easier is help worth fighting for.”
About the JDRF One Walk
Date: Sunday, September 25, 2016
Check-in: 9:00 AM
Starts: 10:00 AM
Length of walk: 3 miles
Location: Brien McMahon High School
300 Highland Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06854
Register today at https://www.walk.jdrf.org/norwalk