During National Diabetes Awareness Month, we want you to share your type. Are the mama-bear type or the live-my-best-life type (because we know that type 1 diabetes does not define you)? Perhaps you’re the resilient type or the strong type?

Read about some of our amazing chapter members below:

• Tracie Wilk: I’m the Lead by Example Type
• Jeanette Mackesy: I’m the Nothing Is Impossible Type
• Tina Ewing & Michele Sinoway: We’re the Lift Each Other Up Type
• Jim & Jenn McCue: We’re the In This Together Type
• Jeff Krieztman: I’m the Never Give Up Type
• Rachel & Augie: We’re the Lift Each Other Up Type
• Sanjay Gera: I’m the Stronger Than I Look Type
• Jill Rothman: I’m the Lead by Example Type
• Larry Nayman: I’m the Never Give Up Type

“JDRF was there for us 13 years ago when our son Noah as first diagnosed with T1D. I believe we were able to successfully adjust to our new lives with a diabetic child though the help of our JDRF mentor family and our local chapter.  JDRF became our extended family for support when we knew nothing about diabetes or any other families with a child with T1D. We have grown and changed with JDRF as Noah as grown and changed with T1D.  We continue to support JDRF as they fund the pathway for a cure and technology to make Noah’s life with diabetes more manageable.

Noah is going to college in the fall of 2019, a very exciting and challenging time for anyone, especially at T1D young adult. We hope that the  technology and support systems JDRF has help fund will help for Noah at college.

We support JDRF any way we can. Family One Walk teams, Ride for the Cure, mentor to new families, Gala Committee, Chapter Board, Youth Ambassador. We feel its just part of our life to give back to JDRF since they have given so much to us and Noah. It is a wonderful feeling to help new families adjust to life with diabetes and introduce Noah to other T1D kids. We really enjoy interacting with other parents and families with T1D connections. No parent in the world can understand what your life is truly like unless they also have a T1D connection.”

top of page

“JDRF has provided my family with support since shortly after my diagnosis. The organization has provided friendships and also hope for a cure. In the mean time, JDRF has funded so many research opportunities that have led to advances in technology that I rely on every day. Back in 1989, this technology was unimaginable.

I hope for a cure. Ultimately, it would be incredible to live a life without worrying about everything. In the closer future, I hope for more advances in technology that will continue to take away some of the burdens those of us with Type 1 live with everyday.

For me, a cure would mean health. A cure would mean that my body is no longer fighting against itself all day long. As much as a cure is the ultimate goal, I don’t know what my life would be like without making all the decisions I make each moment.

Signing up for the Ride to Cure was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I signed up for my first ride in 2017 and was glad I didn’t think too much about it, otherwise I would have overthought it and changed my mind – considering I didn’t even own a bike! Riding was another way of defeating diabetes. It gave me a reason to step out of my comfort zone and take on a new challenge. Completing the Metric Century twice has given me a feeling of accomplishment like no other. Throughout each ride, I was dealing with high blood sugars and calculating my carb and hydration intake to not only keep my blood sugar in check (as much as possible) throughout the ride, but to also make sure I was giving my body everything it needed during the ride – like all riders.”

top of page

Tina Ewing

“Living with T1D can sometimes feel isolating and lonely, despite being surrounded by family and friends who support you and your condition. There is an unmeasurable comfort when you meet and connect with another T1D. It is an unspoken lifestyle familiarity.

Michele and I met through our mutual JDRF connection. While many JDRF members and participants are heavily and understandably focused on T1D children and their parents, there is a need for continued adult outreach as those children ultimately develop into T1D adults. I applaud the NJ JDRF team for embracing such outreach.

Michele and I were connected because of her new and late adult T1D diagnosis. We had the fortune of attending the NEJEDA Adult Camp weekend together and while just meeting, there was an instant bond. It’s the moment where you don’t have to explain; the person just ‘gets’ it because they are living it. So you feel both empowered and reassured knowing that another like-minded spirit joins you in the struggle and yet has daily conquests in living and managing a T1D lifestyle.

I hope that my 42 T1D years are inspiring for others. I’m always impressed when I meet people who seem to make the condition seamless in their life. My hope is that until a cure is found, people can live their lives fully and without barriers because of diabetes. Social media networking, used wisely, is another tremendous outlet for information and sharing.

A diabetes cure is the ultimate nirvana and I am encouraged by the ground breaking research, trials and findings. I have fingers crossed that a cure will materialize in my lifetime.”

Michele Sinoway

“I was diagnosed with T1D relatively late in life, 53, after a misdiagnosis of type 2 diabetes. I am not the sort to be complacent, especially about health-related issues. I read everything that I could get my hands on about LADA [Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults] and T1D and peppered my endo with practical questions … ‘How do I store my insulin?’; ‘Can I reuse my needles?’; ‘How do I discard my sharps?’ … none of which he could answer.

When he couldn’t answer ‘How do I carb count?’ I was really at my wits end, and I reached out to JDRF to see if they had any basic materials that I could use to treat myself.

(When you are diagnosed as an adult, you don’t get ‘boot camp’ in the hospital with your parents, you are on your own to figure it out, I learned after my diagnosis!)

Within literally hours of my email, I received a return email back for an in house visit by JDRF volunteers, I had a call with someone from JDRF about resources available to me, and was told about T1D Connections Program, and was assigned my very own mentor, Tina!

From the beginning, Tina and I hit it off. All of the questions that my MD couldn’t answer, Tina walked me through. She checked in on me when she hadn’t heard from me for a while and really was so great and supportive during a very difficult time when I had to navigate a lot of changes. Thanks to Tina and the staff of JDRF, I got up to speed with my disease, and was such an early adopter that I got a lot of attention at Camp Nejeda Adult Bootcamp as the one who was diagnosed three months ago (and won an award for it!).

Tina is always there for me, just a text away, and she always helps me, and never lets me feel depressed or overwhelmed. She lifts me up! And by the way, I fired my endo! My new one knows how to carb count!

top of page

“Jim finds strength in community, and believes that the voices of the T1D world can be heard far clearer when they are speaking together as one. Always willing to help a T1D (or their parent or loved one) navigate the t1 world, Jim believes that we truly are all in this together!”

top of page

“In 2009, I was looking to become involved in some charity work. I looked at many different charities, when I saw Taryn, my daughter, wildly waving her hands and pointing to herself. Taryn was diagnosed as T1D in 2006. I went on the JDRF site and saw the many ways I could participate. I choose the Ride to Cure. I had done a lot of bike riding in my youth and I wanted a challenge. 10 RIDES LATER, I have become part of a ‘ride tribe.’ We raise an enormous amount of money for research and get to ride a bicycle to boot!

I support JDRF to help fund the research needed to obliterate T1D. For the future, my hope is just what it says on every T-shirt and Ride to Cure jersey – a cure. For me, a cure would mean relief.

Extra Bonus: I have met and friended so many people from around the country – ALL committed to wiping out this dreadful disease. That is POWERFUL!”

top of page

“We support JDRF because we believe in their mission to improve the lives of our loved ones living with type 1. We want to support the research that JDRF funds. We want a cure and we believe JDRF wants that for us too.

In the future, we hope for implantable beta cells. We hope for no devices connected to our bodies. We hope for a life without the fear of what diabetes does to us over time. We hope for the cure.

For us, a cure means freedom from fear. Freedom to live carefree.

Team PipPop signed up for JDRF One Walk the year after Rachel was diagnosed and raising money for JDRF empowered us against a disease that robs you of power. We could never not walk!”

top of page

“I’m stronger than I look type, living with type one diabetes for 54 years, enjoying every moment of it. Type one makes me stronger every day and helps me take care of myself with positive control. I migrated to the U.S. in 1986 and was amazed to see and learn so many options to control diabetes, which opened new door for me to live and enjoy healthy life style. Having a supporting spouse and kids made a big difference in my diabetes management.  And, I’ve been on a pump since 1995 – 23 awesome years.

JDRF has played a major role in helping me find friends who are living a similar life style. They’re working with the government, researchers, doctors and others to make sure they turn Type One into Type NONE.

In the future, I hope for a fully-integrated pump with a built-in sensor, better education for the general public and a cure.”

top of page