Phase 1

Well, it happened.....I dyed my hair BLUE, well blue highlights that is ;)

I modified my Phase 1 goal and hit $350 which isn't too shabby of a start considering November hasn't even started yet!

If you want to support my fundraising efforts then you can use the following link http://www.gofundme.com/aCUREforjoseph

If you'd like to join in the BLUE hair fun, please join the Facebook page or use the hashtag #goBLUEforT1D in your photos on your social media accounts!
https://www.facebook.com/GoBLUEforT1D

-until next time

Halloween

Halloween is only two days away and I have already been asked a million times if I let Joseph participate in the holiday. I feel like looking at them and saying "Why the hell wouldn't I?" but rather, I just smile and say "Yes, of course. He gets to participate the same as if he were not diabetic."

My child never over indulged in candy prior to his diagnosis, so being more cautious about how much candy he actually eats is not much of a change for him and the same goes for our non-diabetic child. They are both are subject to the same treatment, diabetes is never the reason to saying NO in this house, if it is the underlying reason, then both children are told NO and another reason is explained to them.

This is also not a holiday to offer a diabetic child "sugar free" candy. These types of candies still have carbohydrates and still require insulin, so just give them the same candy that you would give any other child (unless they have specific dietary needs of course).

If you are new to being a D-Parent, don't stress yourself out thinking that your d-child has to miss out on being a child and enjoying Halloween. Here is how we handle Trick or Treating.
Once we return home each child gets to choose two pieces of candy to eat and then their buckets get put away. For the following few days they are allowed two pieces with lunch and dinner. I strategically sort the candy for the good "low" treats and put them aside and the remainder of the candy is shipped off to work with my husband. However, this year we are going to take the remaining candy to the dentist office and they get to choose a prize and then I will take them to the store and they can pick out a new toy. No child benefits from a ton of consumed candy and my children are never deprived from treats, so they don't even miss out. Just look at this as an opportunity to start a new fun tradition and your child won't even know the difference or miss out on any of the Halloween fun.

I hope that you all have a safe and fun Halloween!

-until next time!

I am going BLUE

I have decided to start a fundraising effort in which I will trade the color of my hair for generous donations.....yep, I am dyeing my hair BLUE!

I have chosen different stages of BLUE for my hair based upon the donations that I receive. These are a few examples that I have pulled from Pinterest. I have set the goals high because going BLUE for a blonde is no easy task, and not something that I will be able to remove very easily. However, it is worth every BLUE day, if it means that I am raising money to help fund a CURE for my son!

 

If you'd like to donate towards my fundraising goals then you can follow this link

http://www.gofundme.com/aCUREforjoseph

every single penny raised will be donated towards a CURE for Type 1 Diabetes!

 

I have also started a Facebook page where people are joining me in dyeing their hair BLUE and raising funding and awareness for this November, please "like" the page and share with your family and friends. Let's make this the best BLUEvember yet!

GoBLUEforT1D

 

Thank you for your support and encouragement and I can't wait to see all of the BLUE hair, this November :)

 

 

-until next time

 

Could this be the answer??

Joseph had Coxsackievirus A 

(Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease)

7 months prior to his diagnosis of

Type 1 Diabetes!

 

Study taken from Science Daily story sourced from Arden's Day

 

 

 

Children who have had enterovirus infection are around 50 percent more likely to have type 1 diabetes

Date:

October 17, 2014

Source:

Diabetologia

Summary:

Children who have been infected with enterovirus are 48 percent more likely to have developed type 1 diabetes, a study shows. "Type 1 diabetes is considered to be caused by complex interaction between genetic susceptibility, the immune system, and environmental factors," say the authors. "Though the cue for genetic predisposition has been elucidated, evidence also points to involvement of enterovirus (EV) infection, including viruses such as poliovirus, Coxsackievirus A, Coxsackievirus B, and echovirus."

 

A new study published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that children who have been infected with enterovirus are 48% more likely to have developed type 1 diabetes. The study is by Dr Tsai Chung-Li, China Medical University, Taiwan, and colleagues.

"Type 1 diabetes is considered to be caused by complex interaction between genetic susceptibility, the immune system, and environmental factors," say the authors. "Though the cue for genetic predisposition has been elucidated, evidence also points to involvement of enterovirus (EV) infection, including viruses such as poliovirus, Coxsackievirus A, Coxsackievirus B, and echovirus."
To investigate the link between EV infection and subsequent type 1 diabetes, the researchers used nationwide population-based data from Taiwan's national health insurance system. They looked at type 1 diabetes incidence in children aged up to 18 years with or without diagnosis of EV infection during 2000-2008.
Overall incidence of type 1 diabetes was higher in the EV-infected children than in the non-EV infected group (5.73 vs. 3.89 per 100,000 people per year, showing a 48% increased incidence rate in EV-infected versus non-EV-infected children). Hazard ratios of type 1 diabetes increased with age at diagnosis of EV infection, with a more than doubling of the risk of type 1 diabetes (2.18 times increased risk) for children aged over 10 years at entry. No relationship of allergic rhinitis or bronchial asthma to type 1 diabetes was found.
The authors point out that despite countries such as Finland and Sweden having the highest incidence of type 1 diabetes worldwide, they are thought to have low background rates of enterovirus infection, suggesting that genetic factors are a large component of the high type 1 diabetes rates in those countries. But they add: "Regions such as Africa, Asia, South America have a low but increasing incidence of type 1 diabetes and high prevalence of enterovirus infection; environmental factors like enterovirus infection may play a vital role in increasing incidence in these regions."
They add: "Taiwan has relatively low type 1 diabetes incidence; we believe that the marked escalation of the said incidence in recent decades can be largely attributed to the highly endemic spread of enterovirus infection in Taiwanese children, given that there has been little gene flow and genetic drift in such a short period."
They conclude: "This nationwide retrospective cohort study found a positive correlation of type 1 diabetes with EV infection. Our results suggest that preventive strategies, such as an effective vaccine against EV infection, may lessen the incidence of type 1 diabetes in Taiwan."



This November!

Awareness......

with November rapidly approaching the entire Diabetes Community is talking about Awareness campaigns and what we are all going to do to get involved.

You can write Hope on your hand, wear blue on Fridays, get a celebrity to wear a blue circle pin, you can write blogs and tweets and take pictures, you can turn local monuments blue and the list goes on and on. While I am all for raising awareness, how do these awareness campaigns turn into donations? How are these getting us any closer to having a CURE? We can have all the awareness in the world but if no one is donating to our cause then we are just treading water getting no where.

While it would be nearly impossible to re-create the ALS Ice Bucket challenge we need something drastic to make people see that our children and loved ones are secretly battling, suffering and dying from a disease that they didn't cause, a battle that lasts for the rest of their lives. There is no treatment, there is no remission, there is nothing but life support. A life support that has become more advanced and is making life easier for diabetics, but they are still suffering major consequences living with this disease. Type 1 Diabetics are losing eye sight, having heart problems, kidney problems, nerve damage, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, social problems and they are DYING! Infants, Children, Teenagers, and Adults are dying.....EVERY SINGLE DAY. It doesn't matter how well you manage your diabetes there is always danger lurking around each corner.

What are we doing to raise MONEY? A cure will only come with funding, plain and simple.

While I have the hope that maybe this year we will break that social barrier and the world will finally see once and for all just how badly our loved ones need this biological cure, my head asks the questions........how? How do we get that funding?

The vast majority of the world thinks that this is a self inflicted disease that is easily managed. How do we change their minds and give them a glimpse into our reality?  How do we make them see that we fight for life every day, waiting for that cure? How do we make them see that our children's lives could depend on their donations for a CURE. I don't want my son to be a statistic. I don't want Type 1 Diabetes to take his life, but the harsh reality is that it could....any time, any day without warning!

I want my son to be able to say that he SURVIVED Type 1 Diabetes, that he BEAT Type 1 Diabetes, that he has been CURED of Type 1 Diabetes!

I raise money every chance that I get, because money is the only thing that is going to get us that cure.

So my question to you is, how are you RAISING MONEY for a cure this November??

Help us CURE Type 1 Diabetes!! http://norcal.jdrf.org/

-until next time

Never Again!

Well yesterday it happened.......our Nightscout system took a turn for the worst when our uploader phone stopped uploading data. After hours of trying to figure out what the problem was, we discovered that the phone's charging port had gone bad!

Anyone who has set up this system (we had a brilliant friend set ours up) knows that this is no easy fix! This means that we have to get a whole new phone and re-install the system to it.

This means today and probably tomorrow, we have NO Nightscout while Joseph is at school! These last few months I have had such a peace of mind being able to see his numbers and manage his diabetes from afar. Today and every day until we get a new phone set up will be filled with fear and worry for the unspeakable.

This technology is AMAZING, it is LIFE CHANGING and this is something that we should never have to live without!!!

Lesson Learned: This time around we will be buying 2 phones, that way we always have a backup in place should one go on the fritz or break because I never want to have this feeling again.

"Like" us on Facebook

Have you checked out our Team Joseph Facebook page?

Like us and follow my daily stories and pictures The Adventures of Joseph and Hope

If you have a T1D Awareness page, I would love to follow you. Please comment below with the link to your FB pages :)

-until next time

Trick or Treat?

Halloween is coming and for parents of small T1D children this poses some additional hurdles in management. I have always had the motto that Joseph gets to do things as if he were never diagnosed and Halloween is no exception. I have never allowed my children access to excessive sweets or juices even B.D. (before diabetes) so it hasn't been a difficult transition for our parenting style.

Joseph will get to participate in his school parties and trick or treating, as well as at home. He will get to choose and eat a few pieces of candy, just like I would have normally done and same goes for Ethan. Just because sugar reacts different in Joseph's body doesn't mean that he has to miss out on these childhood memories, it just takes a little pre planning to make sure that his blood sugars still stay in check and a consistency with both children. Just because Ethan doesn't have T1D doesn't give him any advantage in our household, and he will never be told he is limited because Joseph has diabetes.

Their bags of candy will be put up on a high shelf in the pantry and over the few days following Halloween, they can each choose a piece or two to have with lunch or dinner. Halloween is actually a great time to stock pile some new low treatments, so I usually sift through the candy and then ship it off to my husband's work, so I am not tempted to snack on it ;)

I found this quick reference list of carb counts for the popular snack sized Halloween Candy!

 

 

You can also find a more extensive list here with the American Diabetes Association 

 

 

-until next time

Your days are numbered!

Yesterday we gathered at the west steps of our state capitol with thousands of people. A sea of colors with t-shirts, costumes, balloons, signs and noise makers all showing off their team spirit and pride! We are all there for ONE reason......to cure Type 1 Diabetes.

As my son took the stage to get his blue beads, waves of sadness and pride washed over me. I would give anything for my son to not be standing along side all of his fellow diabetics, but at the same time I am so proud of how strong he is and the strength of our diabetic community.

These past 19 months I have met and grown close to so many local families fighting the same battle that we are fighting. Seeing those families yesterday and standing along side of them at an event to cure our loved ones, is empowering and comforting. We are not alone, we are in this together, we are family!

 

We will cure Type 1 Diabetes, We will not stop until we do! We will keep fighting to keep our children and loved ones alive, we will keep raising awareness and we will keep fundraising for that CURE!

Type 1 Diabetes.......your days are numbered!

 

-until next time

Team Joseph

We are officially only 2 days away from our Northern California JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes!

This is our second year walking for Joseph since his diagnosis January 2011. Last year, we were brand new to life with Type 1 Diabetes and we were determined to raise as much money as we possibly could for our walk team. We were able to raise nearly $15,000.00 putting our walk team in the #2 position for our region! Pretty impressive for being rookies, if I do say so myself ;) lol

This year we were bound and determined to clench that #1 seat (we are not competitive or anything)......and I think that we are going to accomplish it! 2 days away from walk day and we have already reached $35,440.00!!!!!

I am astounded, humbled and so proud of our team. We have some of the most dedicated people supporting Joseph and our fight to Cure Type 1 Diabetes and to that I say......


   THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

You guys help drive us to keep pushing forward and to keep fighting. We are making a difference!!!

We will beat Type 1 Diabetes!

-until next time