A special thank you to all teams who joined us at the “200 for T1D” Ragnar Relay. The New England Chapter was represented by 11 teams: Agony of Duhfeet, Agony of Duhfeet – BP, Albemarle All Stars, Came for Beer, stayed for the run!, Insulin It to Win It, MHS Cross Country, Riptide’s Ragnarians, RUN4LOVE, Team Lilly, Team PwC and Third Virtual’s a Charm. Together, this dedicated group of runners raised over $16,000 for T1D research and ran well over 22,000 miles. Thank you to our teams!

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200 for T1D | Insulin It to Win It

Our daughter Caroline was very unexpectedly diagnosed with T1D on January 15, 2019 at the age of 10. We have no history of diabetes in my/my husband’s families so it was a complete shock, and we had a lot of learning to do!

Caroline has always been an active child (lacrosse, basketball, cross country, Irish dance, soccer), so it was really important to her to get back out on the field/court/course/dance floor as soon and as safely as possible. In the last 18 months, Caroline has worked her way back to full participation in all of her sports, and her coaches/teachers, teammates, and family have been amazing in their support.

As it happens, one of her Irish dance teachers (Suzanne McDonough) and I are running partners and were going to participate in the Cape Cod Ragnar this spring. When it was canceled, we were disappointed – but then Suzanne saw the JDRF Ragnar race and thought it would be perfect for us. As my good friend and Caroline’s Irish dance teacher, Suzanne has seen first-hand how challenging life with T1D can be for Caroline. And so we resurrected Caroline’s Boston One Walk team, Insulin It to Win It.

Given the global pandemic and economic downturn, our expectations were low – maybe get a few friends who wanted to run some miles and donate what they would pay for a race fee. What happened in the subsequent 10 days was overwhelming.

Friends and family from across the South Shore and the country jumped in to participate and donate. All three of our children – Catherine (age 15), Andrew (age 14), and Caroline (age 12) – were eager to be part of the race. Catherine, a rising junior who runs cross country for Marshfield High School, then formed her own team with 10 of her XC teammates. This became the ‘kids’ team, with Andrew and some of Caroline’s friends and cousins joining them. (Poor Caroline was stuck running with

us adults!) Between the two teams, we had family, friends, her dance friends and their parents, MHS and FBMS cross country teammates, neighbors, Cape Cod Rangar teammates, and other T1D families.

The race was an absolutely incredible experience – for us as a family and for all of our runners. While we were running physically alone, the pictures people sent us reminded us that, while Caroline was the one who was diagnosed, she would never be on this journey alone. So many people put in big mileage in oppressive heat and humidity, cheered us on, and inspired us to keep running.

In the end, our two teams combined to run over 500 miles and raise $11,115 for JDRF. In the words of Caroline (as she looked at the pictures of all our runners and saw donations coming in), “People are amazing!”