The Walk to Cure Diabetes is JDRF’s largest fundraising program.  In 2009, Walkers raised $89,000,000, nearly half of JDRF’s total public support, thanks to the countless numbers of volunteer teams that support the Walk.  The Walk to Cure Diabetes is a fun-filled event for you and your friends and family and it builds camaraderie among co-workers.  It’s also an uplifting and encouraging experience and an opportunity to be part of the diabetes community.  It is a chance to take action, to step up to the plate and do something positive.  Walk is the way to the cure!

JDRF Bay Area Dates & Locations

Sunday, October 3, 2010
Santa Clara, California Great America
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Sunday, October 17, 2010
Pacific Grove, Lover’s Point
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Saturday, October 23, 2010
San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge
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Sunday, October 24, 2010
Walnut Creek, Heather Farm Park
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For more information, call the JDRF office or log on to the Walk Central website:
415.977.0360  http://walk.jdrf.org

The 2010  DTreat West Conference will be held at UC Berkeley June 4-6th and provides an opportunity for young adults (ages 18- 25) living with the challenge of type 1 diabetes to come together and talk through issues with both peers and professionals.

The cost to attend is only $25 and includes room, board and all conference fees (participants need to arrange their own transportation).

Click here to register online.  Space is very limited so don’t hesitate to sign-up if you would like to attend!

Download the printable brochure {PDF}.  Join the DTreat Facebook Group.

DTreat is a program specifically designed for young adult diabetics put on by the Diabetes Camp Leadership Council (DLead), a team of passionate leaders involved in the international diabetes community.  DLead is a sub-council of DECA, the Diabetes Education and Camping Association (DECA).

DTreat East will be held at Northeastern University Boston, May 28 – 30, 2010.

Save the date for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Annual Research Symposium on Saturday, June 5, 2010, from 1:00-4:00pm at the St. Regis San Francisco.

The JDRF Annual Research Symposium is designed to bring together the Greater Bay Area type 1 diabetes community for an interactive, informative afternoon. The event will feature updates on JDRF research initiatives along with the opportunity to network and learn more about the latest diabetes-related products and services.

This year’s Annual Symposium will highlight JDRF’s most innovative and exciting industry partnerships including a novel diabetes drug discovery and development partnership with GNF (the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation), along with exciting updates on the Artificial Pancreas Project featuring Dr. Bruce Buckingham from Stanford University.

The content-rich afternoon will include other local corporate and university-based researchers and a product and services exposition with company representatives on hand to answer diabetes care questions.

The Annual Research Symposium is free of charge.  For more information or to reserve your space now, please contact JDRF’s Caroline Kinsey by phone, 415.597.6314 or by e-mail, ckinsey@jdrf.org.

When I first met 4-year old Jamie Kurtzig, she was wearing mis-matched socks, a pink tutu and a stuffed monkey backpack.  Her blond curls were unruly and showed the signs of a nap in the car and some kind of mischief.

Sara is Jamie’s mother.  When I first met Sara, we chatted about how we both had 4-year olds (mine’s a boy), nap time, healthy snacks and pre-school.  We talked about all of the similarities in the development stages of our little ones.  The main difference was that Jamie has type 1 diabetes and has been insulin dependent since she was 18 months old.

The Kurtzig Family

My son hates shots more than he hates water in his nose when he swims.  I have had to trick him into going to the doctors office for his flu shots and the moment he realizes where we are going, the screaming begins.  Jamie has had to endure finger pricks and insulin shots since she was 18 months old.  This is the life she knows and until a cure for diabetes is found, she will continue counting carbs and keeping up with the other children on the playground.  I was mesmerized by this little girl who was living her little life to the fullest.

In 2008, Jamie and Sara had a brilliant idea.  Sara and her husband Andy had attended the Hope Gala the previous year and Jamie enjoyed seeing her parents all dressed up.  She asked her mommy why there wasn’t a dress-up event for kids.

That is when the idea was hatched to create Royal Ball: Kingdom for a Cure.  It was an event for parents and children where everyone dresses up in royal attire and attends an activity filled evening and sit-down dinner.  And it could raise money to fund research to find a cure for diabetes.  Friends and family of the Kurtzig family could not have been more supportive.  The event raised over $100,000 in its’ first year and has since raised over $250,000.

The Kurtzig family and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation invites you to attend the 3rd annual Royal Ball: Kingdom for a Cure at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco on March 21st, 2009 from 3:30pm – 7:00pm.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.curetype1.org/royalball or by contacting JDRF at 415-977-0360.

Alison Urmson
JDRF Staff

My husband and I arrive at a trendy restaurant to join a lovely birthday celebration for a mutual friend.  There are about 10 people listed on the reservation and we are asked to wait for the others in the bar.  My husband orders two glasses of wine and a snack mix is offered to us.  I’ve had a long day and so this should be a welcome and relaxing scene. But before I dip my hands into the snack mix and take a sip of wine I start counting the carbs. Then I start wondering if I should have a glass of wine before eating a real meal. My mind wanders deep into that part of my brain reserved for calculating and analyzing my every move and how it might affect my blood sugar level. I decide that I should excuse myself and quickly run into the women’s room to check my blood sugar. The number is inexplicably high so I administer a corrective dose of insulin. Then I worry that I may have possibly overdone it with the correction.  What if I have a hypoglycemic reaction in the restaurant?

The dinner party has not even started and I already feel apprehensive. This is an Asian restaurant and while I love the cuisine, the sauces make it very tricky to compute the carbohydrates.  Most of our group does not know about my condition. Will I be able to administer my insulin without calling too much attention to myself?  How will I respectfully decline a piece of birthday cake without everyone saying “Oh come on!” as if I am simply dieting? Or, how will I deal with the guilt if I decide to go ahead and have that piece of cake?  My husband, sensitive and noticing that I am not quite all there, asks me what’s on my mind.  “Oh nothing”, I say, not wanting to worry him. After all, this constant analysis never ends and I can’t bother him with it every time it rears its ugly head.

How I wish I had a pal to commiserate with at this party. If I really were just dieting, chances are there would be at least one other person at the table would understand my plight. The truth is, I feel alone all the time, not just at dinner parties but also at business meetings, luncheons, neighborhood block parties, etc.  In fact, I feel alone at times that do not involve food at all. Going for a walk (will the exercise bring my blood sugar level too low?), any kind of stressful situation such as a struggle with my toddler (is my blood sugar level rising?), or it is just plain sitting there (sometimes there is no identifiable explanation for a high or low reading.) When we were young, our parents worried for us. As adults, no one can understand this relentless maintenance and worry but another adult living with Type 1 Diabetes.

Imagine being told you had to “manual shift” your heart or kidneys or liver, functions that are supposed to be automatic. This is how I attempt to describe Type 1 Diabetes to my friends and family. However, even if we Type 1s were expert “drivers”, with the highest levels of skill – we know exactly what to eat and when, exactly how much exercise works for us, and we have perfected the insulin ratios for our individual bodies, we would still fail at times.  In fact, we would still fail many times.  As Dan Hurley mentions in his excellent book, Diabetes Rising: How a Rare Disease Became a Modern Pandemic, and What to Do About It, we were not put on this earth to stare at our blood sugar readings all day.  Although he does something I hate – meld Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes into the same topic – he happens to have Type 1 Diabetes and describes the loneliness and struggle of the disease very effectively.  I can’t even begin to list all of the points he nails right on the head. Here is the transcript from a recent interview on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122250567&ft=1&f=5#

The fact is, being an adult, everyone assumes I have Type 2 Diabetes and all I need is some discipline to correct the situation. This is not only untrue, and insulting, with regards to Type 2 Diabetes but it could not be further from the truth when battling Type 1 Diabetes . This confusion can make us feel even more alone and misunderstood. Therefore, I applaud the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Bay Area Chapter for reaching out to adults with Type 1 Diabetes. JDRF, an amazingly tireless organization, has identified this dilemma and has created venues for adults with Type 1 Diabetes to interact and share stories, thoughts and fears. I encourage those of us in the Bay Area to join the Adult Type 1 Group. I would like to meet you.

Everyone is welcome to attend the Adult type 1 diabetes Group which meets next on Thursday, January 28, 2010, at 6:00pm in the JDRF office at 49 Stevenson Street, Suite 1200, San Francisco, CA 94105.  For more information on attending contact, Carolyn Eisen, Outreach Manager at JDRF by email: ceisen@jdrf.org or by phone: 415 597 6317.

Last night a small but industrious group of JDRF volunteers and JDRF staff gathered for holiday cheer and to trim a 16 foot tree at Davies Symphony Hall.   JDRF has been provided with the tree as part of the Symphony’s Community Deck the Hall program.  Davies Symphony Hall will be transformed into an evergreen wonderland with towering trees, uniquely decorated by local schools, community groups and charities.  This is JDRF’s second year in the Deck the Hall program.

JDRF tree in progress

Vickie Mallon and Carolyn Eisen coordinated the decorations for the JDRF tree.  Our tree would be decorated in silver and blue coordinating nicely with JDRF colors.  Everyone in the office pitched in this week to make the decorations so we were ready to decorate as everyone arrived last night.

Our tree trimming volunteers included:  Priscilla & Byron Essert; Larry & Margaret Lum; Bill & Heather Marks; Connie, Nick & Mei Mei McComb & their dog, Colton; Mara Bonelli and Rachel Rosenfeld.  Tree trimming staff included Carolyn Eisen, Caroline Kinsey and me.  Not a big group but we got the job done in about 90 minutes.  We listened to holiday music, laughed a lot, and enjoyed wonderful food, sodas and wine all provided compliments of Roche — which was very much appreciated.  Thanks, Jennifer McFarland!

The thing about a 16 foot tree is that all 16 feet must be decorated or it just looks silly.  This requires a 16 foot ladder which was provided by the symphony.  It also requires that someone climb the ladder to hang the decorations.

Byron Essert was first up the ladder.

Byron was the first to take a turn on the a ladder.  Without anyone else willing to climb the big ladder, Priscilla ventured up the ladder and settled in at her personal comfort level.  Priscilla managed to get most of the tree decorated.  Nice work Priscilla!

Then it was my turn.  I argued that I had my turn last year.  It does no good.  I start to climb and then I climb higher and slowly I find myself closer to the top than I care to remember.  Sixteen feet is really high when on a ladder.  And a wobbly ladder at that.

Holding the Ladder

I think we hung our crowning star on a branch at about 15 feet. No way am I going any higher on a ladder.  No Way I can make it to the top of 16 foot tree!

At the end of the evening, we admire our tree and we think the tree looks beautiful complete with a foil tree skirt.  We hung blue ribbons, silver and blue ornaments of large and small sizes and blue wreaths.  For splash of color, we included a few JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes Sneakers. Best of all, the tree features 50 silver stars with 50 unique photographs of local children affixed to the star’s center and the date the child was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Colton

The San Francisco Symphony’s annual Deck the Hall event, on December 6th, celebrates the holiday season with a magical stage show designed for children and it is the first time the public will see the decorated trees.

The concert includes performances by the Orchestra, dancers from San Francisco Ballet School, the San Francisco Boys Chorus, Chhandam Youth Dance Co., and Stephen Saxon and the New Klezmorim.  The post-show party in the lobbies includes entertainment, arts and craft activities and refreshments.

Margaret decorating

These concerts are presented in conjunction with San Francisco Arts Commission.  It is estimated that 40,000 concert-goers will view the trees during the month of December.

This means that 40,000 people may see the JDRF tree which helps to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes and to keep diabetes firmly in the public spotlight.

Decorators until the end

And we had a great time. So if you have a chance to stop by Davies Symphony Hall (201 Van Ness Avenue) check out the JDRF tree on the 1st Tier.  Let us know what you think by responding to this message.  Don’t forget to check for the the star 15 feet up, front and center.

So now we have the holiday spirit and we raised awareness of type 1 diabetes.  What about you?  What are your plans for the holidays this year? If you have been able to raise diabetes awareness, we would love to hear about it.

Just in case you don’t get a chance to see the JDRF tree, you can view it now.  Happy Holidays.

The JDRF Tree at Symphony Hall

We want to make it easy for you to connect online with other people in the type 1 diabetes community. To start, we created regional Groups on Facebook.  Become a member of one of these groups, share fundraising ideas for the Walk, helpful resources for life with type 1, and begin to make new friends in your community.  Contribute to the Group page by posting your photos and links to videos.

A list of the Groups can be found on the Connect Online page on the Walk website. http://www.curetype1.org/walk/connect-online.html

JDRF also offers Parents’ Networking Support Groups around the Bay Area.  These groups are run by JDRF volunteers and are open to the public.  For a list of dates and locations go to http://www.curetype1.org/walk/outreach-events.html