For the entire month of October, we
are continuing to feature the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes on our T1D Tuesday
Blog! We will be interviewing Walk Team Captains from around the country, who
will share their experiences on how they started their team and how they became
successful at fundraising.

Introducing, #teamshay!

My name
is Erin Fuller. My daughter Shaylin was diagnosed this year on June 6, she was
13 years old. It was a shock to me as a kidney dialysis nurse. I have seen the
worst of poorly managed type 1. My daughter knew something was wrong, she was
thirsty all the time, and having to urinate frequently, she felt like she was
starving and eating so much  but never gaining  a pound. She looked
up her symptoms on the internet, and telling me and her doctor that she had
diabetes! She was right! 

My
first instinct was to reach out for support for my girl and our family. The
JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes was our light at the end of the tunnel. We were set up with a mentor
family through JDRF. We took full advantage of this opportunity and we met
our Mother/Daughter match at a Starbucks. It could not have been better. My
daughter and our mentor daughter were like sisters. They were the same age,
enjoyed the same sport, singing, and loved the same band, One Direction. My
daughter learned so much about the pump, diabetes camp, and just being a teen
with diabetes.

We
chose the name #teamshay almost as a joke because the # is such a new cultural,
joked about symbol but it is to get attention and that is what we want. It
put us alphabetically first at our walk in Busse Woods Schaumburg (we had no
idea when we chose the name).

Many
of my daughters friends, and her older triplet siblings friends joined our team
and we had the most amazing walk day! My daughter felt so loved  and
supported, by our group, but also by the thousands of people in the Chicagoland
area that walked for this cause!  I believe her life will be different
because of the research that is being done. I believe a cure is possible! We
will continue to walk and fundraise until that happens! 

(This year was the first year for #teamshay to participate in the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes and they raised $1562 for T1D research.)

Get involved in the JDRF Walk to
Cure Diabetes in your community. Visit http://walk.jdrf.org to sign up today!