Why I Walk

This past October we did the JDRF walk to cure diabetes! It was my first walk in 2 years and it was so fun! We went to the One Walk in Santa Barbara. We got there at 9 and signed in. Since we raised more than $100 I got a JDRF One Walk shirt for free. I also got a bandana that they only give to diabetics. It was fun spotting all those with Type 1 by seeing the bandanas throughout the day. It was really nice to have the whole family come. My good friend Mikayla also joined us which was fun because she got to learn about diabetes. We also ran into some fun friends we only see every once in a while and I ran in to a super sweet camp friend. The actual walk part was super fun but very long when there is a lot of people. When we finished the walk we were all pretty tired and I was heading kind of low. We went to California Pizza Kitchen and had lunch before the road trip home.

I was very proud to take part in the JDRF One Walk. The funds we raised might not have been a lot but every dollar donated to JDRF counts. Not only does JDRF put together events for diabetics and their families but they fund research. Their website says it best, “JDRF’s research goal is to discover, develop, and deliver advances that progressively remove the impact of T1D from people’s lives until we find a cure.”  You can look on their website yourself and see all of the amazing things they are doing to help us find cure. 

Some examples are:

-They have contributed over 2 Billion dollars to diabetes research! Isn't that incredible!?!?!

-They are also currently funding 50 human trials of potential T1D therapies 

- 80% of the money they get goes to directly support T1D research  

The most meaningful part of the walk for me were these cute little runner tags that you see marathon runners wearing that have numbers on it. They said “I’m the walk for _____________ type” I wrote "I’m the walk for everyone type." That is why I walk. I feel like I have more close friends WITH diabetes than without. I truly want to take the burden of this disease away from my mom and my friends and their families. If I could cure myself or someone else I would choose someone else until we run out of diabetics. That is what walking for a cure means to me. I was also walking for the promise of a fun lunch haha but I decided not to write "I'm the walk for lunch type" but, you know, lunch is awesome!