Sara has hoped for a cure since 1974. Diagnosed at age 10, her parents insisted on a normal life, sending her to horse camp instead of Diabetes Camp (with a test tube to check urine), to Europe at age 17 (with a syringe- filled backpack), and to college three states away. Thus encouraged to push limits, Sara chose a career in the performing arts. Currently employed as a nanny and personal assistant, Sara travels extensively, dragging insulin pumps, CGMs and a suitcase full of type 1 diabetes (T1D) paraphernalia everywhere she goes.

Sara’s relationship with JDRF began in 1978 with a 20 mile bike-a-thon, followed by 30 Walks in a dozen locations, Galas, golf, rubber duck races, and in 2014, she participated in her first JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes. Sara served on the Board of Directors for the JDRF Desert Southwest Chapter and is an adult T1D event liaison. As a member of the JDRF Voices Council and a Research Information Volunteer, Sara absorbs the information, does additional study, and “shares the Kool-aid” with enthusiasm. She presents research updates for Walk Teams, Board meetings, local pump clubs, and even parlayed x-rays and a filling into a Lunch and Learn for her dentist’s office. Sara has participated in clinical trials and shares updates with various online communities as well as the local T1D Meet Up group.

Sara believes that JDRF plays a critical role in the search for a cure and that research is the key. Her heartfelt message, Hope Must Endure, exemplified by a life fully lived, in spite of, (or perhaps because of), T1D is meant to encourage others to keep believing in a world without T1D.