Category: Diabetes Awareness

I’m approaching my 10 year diaversary (not until April 2014), but it’s close enough for me to consider it approaching.  I wanted to take some time for myself to reflect back on where I was in my life 10 years ago.  And, if you did the math properly, you will notice that I didn’t have diabetes 10 years ago.

10 years ago, I was in college playing football at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  The season was winding down with only a few games left and I was really looking forward to the season being over and getting a break from football.  I seemed to be getting worn down and just didn’t have the same amount of energy that I previously had and I just wanted to get home for Thanksgiving break.

I don’t recall having any of the symptoms of diabetes at this time, I just remember that I was feeling burnt out from the effects of a long football season.  I didn’t start feeling any symptoms until about January – February.  Once I came back from Winter break in January, I still felt sluggish going to the gym everyday and getting into our off-season workouts.  I started to believe that my years of football were done, that I just didn’t want to put in the hard hours of the off-season anymore.

It wasn’t until spring break in early March that I decided that I just had enough. I couldn’t lift as much in the weight room, I couldn’t run as long during workouts and my arm would be tired after a 30 minute throwing session, so I wanted to have spring break to discuss with my parents about quitting football.  I had never once thought about quitting football. Even when I had a full ride to Maryland and Rutgers thrown away because of an ACL injury in high school, I swallowed my pride and went to a D3 school.  But, this time I could not take anymore of the off-season workouts.

While I was at home during that spring break, I remember going to breakfast with my mom and eating french toast with regular syrup and feeling like I was swallowing thorns because of how dry my mouth was after eating and going to the bathroom every 15-20 minutes while I was home and going out with my friends.

It wasn’t until a month after that I was on my way to the emergency with the 858 blood sugar diagnosis.

And then the life with diabetes began.

Last night Amanda and I were reviewing some of the songs that were going to be played at our wedding in July.  We were discussing recessionals, bridal party intros, cocktail hour music, etc.  We came to the idea of a dollar dance and Amanda and I couldn’t decide if we wanted to do this.  Amanda is not a big fan of this, so I thought we could make it a bit more creative and we have decided that we will take whatever funds from the dollar dance and donate them.

I have been to weddings where the funds that would have spent on wedding favors was donated to charity, so it’s not like we are re-inventing the wheel.  I think that I’ve heard of others doing this also.

So, my question is, what ways have you taken something that is not really a fundraiser, but donated the funds from it to charity?

I am a huge fan of Tijuana Flats. Their food may not be the greatest, but the sauce bar they have can make any food taste amazing.  It is definitely one of my weak spots because they have a lot of good deals and specials and it is very easy for me to break my diet by going there.

However, today, Thursday February 21, 2013, they are teaming up with the American Diabetes Association to help raise money for the Tour de Cure.

They are calling it their Tour de Cure Give Back Night.  20% of sales from 5 p.m. – close for today will be donated to the ADA’s Tour de Cure.  I believe that this is only in south Florida locations, but I could be mistaken.

Here is the e-mail that was sent out:

I don’t usually do a lot to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but when I saw this idea being spread around the DOC, I knew that there was finally something that I wanted to do for this Hallmark Holiday.

A few DOC members, Kelly Close, Manny Hernandez, Bennet Dunlap, Adam Brown, Kerri Sparling and Jeff Hitchcock got together to find a way to use this great tool of social media to benefit the greater good of the diabetes community.  It was decided that the Life for a Child program needs some help.  Their idea is to take the typical “dozen roses,” so popular on Valentine’s Day, and save just one rose to spare the life of a child. “Spare a Rose, Save a Child” is simple:  buy one less rose this Valentine’s Day and share the value of that flower with a child with diabetes in the developing world.  Your loved one at home still gets flowers, and you both show some love to someone who needs it.

Here is a link to the Diabetes Advocate site with more detailed information on this great idea – http://diabetesadvocates.org/c/spare-a-rose-save-a-child/