Hi! My name is Jack…and I have Type 1 Diabetes…I am a typical 8 ½ year old boy that loves Lego, NERF gun wars, play soccer, ski ‘black diamonds’, hang out with my friends, and spend time with my family…BUT, sadly, it also means that I have endured more than 20,645 finger pricks alone to test my blood glucose level AND more than 2,920 injections & over 912 site changes to just get insulin into my body since I was 2 years old.

One month after my second birthday, on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 12:40 pm, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes – a day my parents will never forget! I was in DKA (diabetic Ketoacidosis) and had to stay in the PICU for several days. We call that day “D Day or Diagnosis Day” but in actuality it is the day that I lost my “FREEDOM”.

Thankfully, we had an amazing Pediatric Endocrinologist who helped my parents learn how to take care of a little toddler with this disease. She is the best and I am really glad she is my doctor.

I now wear an insulin pump 24/7 and a Continuous Glucose Monitor. Soon I will have the newest pump that acts like an artificial pancreas…It has made life so much easier but it isn’t a cure. It has been over six years since that horrific day. As if that wasn’t hard enough, five years ago I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease so I must follow a gluten free diet, test my blood often, calculate and bolus everything I eat, carrying my emergency kit everywhere I go (but sometimes I forget it), and answer so many annoying questions about my diabetes. I just wish I had my freedom!

Sometimes it is just too much for a little guy to handle but I just keep thinking one day I will have my freedom again!

Some who are unfamiliar with ‪#‎T1D don’t always realize that there are no breaks and no days off!

Please consider making a Fund A Cure donation in honor of Jack and others living with T1D by clicking here.