Diabetes Art Day was on Monday this week. Unbeknownst to me, as I sat down with a pencil and paper, I had a few things to say. Five poems quickly poured out of me in a short period of time. This may be the one I resonate with on the deepest level.
Have you heard about TeamWILD? Or seen the name Mari Ruddy around the diabetes community? Mari is the founder of TeamWILD & CampWILD. WILD representing: We Inspire Life with Diabetes. I love this! Mari has also lived with Type 1 diabetes for over 30 years and survived breast cancer twice! What an inspiration she is! Along with TeamWILD, she also created the idea for the Red Rider jersey for the ADA Tour de Cure. I first heard about TeamWILD last year at the ADA Tour de Cure after-party when I met Mari for the first time. She came over to a group of us and enthusiastically shared about TeamWILD. I thought it sounded really cool but didn’t think I ever might do it. The program was for real athletes after all, right?
Looking ahead to another 25 years of life.
25 years. What does this mean exactly? It means I am grateful to be alive. Every day is a gift. I have learned to identify the people and things that are most important in my life and this is what I focus my energy and time on. Today you see, I am celebrating 25 years of life!
25 years ago today I almost lost this life of mine. I was in 6th grade and just 11 years old. I was misdiagnosed for many months as having a virus when I first started getting sick in the fall of 1986 – until that fateful day of February 13, 1987.