20 Years of Service with JDRF

Most parents of children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) remember the exact date that their child was diagnosed. It is a date that is often referred to as a “dia-birthday” because of the new life that abruptly starts – a life of 24/7 management of T1D. Cathy Jensen remembers the date and the time of her daughter’s diagnosis. “My daughter, Kelly Jensen, was diagnosed at 9:30 am on Tuesday, September 6, 1994 just after her seventh birthday and what would have been her first day of second grade,” Cathy says.

Cathy’s subsequent involvement with JDRF moved at lightning speed, a time she recalls as “surreal.” While spending four days and three nights at Packard Children’s Hospital learning everything about T1D, Kelly and Cathy saw a T.V. news feature about the Walk to Cure Diabetes. By that weekend, the Jensen family of five was walking at Shoreline Park in Mountain View. “A few days later, I received a phone call from a JDF (as it was known then) Board member who took me to breakfast and invited me to volunteer,” Cathy says.

“As a mom of a young daughter with T1D, I wanted to do anything and everything to find a cure so I said yes without hesitation,” Cathy says.

Cathy was soon voted onto the Bay Area Chapter Board where she held many chair positions including Outreach, Nominating Committee and others. “The philosophy we developed for volunteer recruitment at that time was the ‘3-D approach’-Doer, Donor, Door opener,” Cathy says. That approach worked very well and led to a Silicon Valley Branch Board which Cathy co-founded in 1999.

Cathy’s involvement with JDRF continued to evolve as she served on the Silicon Valley Branch Board for numerous terms, taking on more roles and recruiting more volunteers and supporters throughout the years. When she met the Lucas family, who founded Spring Fling in 2001, she served on that committee and continues to do so today. She recalls that at one of the very early Spring Fling meetings, the committee was brainstorming the idea of bringing on a celebrity emcee. “I casually mentioned Raj Mathai from NBC Bay Area. Later that day, after I picked up Kelly from school, we stopped at a local store in downtown Palo Alto and when we got out of the car, we saw Raj Mathai walking down the street towards us. Quite amazing! Needless to say, I took a deep breath, introduced myself and Kelly, told him his ears must have been burning and made the ‘ask’ right there inviting him to emcee the Fling,” Cathy says. “Much to my surprise, he said he would love to emcee for us and he has successfully emceed the Fling over the years. He has embraced the JDRF family ever since.” Today Cathy is determined to help Spring Fling 2014 meet the $1M goal through procuring sponsorships and in-kind donations and social media.

Volunteering for JDRF has become a family affair. Kelly’s sisters have been involved with JDRF. Kristen, Kelly’s older sister, is active with the Chicago JDRF Chapter in the Youth Leadership Program planning special events. Kelly’s younger sister Kate was active in her sorority as JDRF was their philanthropy. In addition to founding her JDRF Bay Area Walk team “Kelly Anne’s Crusaders,” Kelly started a Walk team with her entire sorority house while at the University of Arizona.

Kelly is now 26 years old, a college graduate and teacher. Cathy is proud of her daughter and admires her ability to face the challenges of T1D every day. “A cure would mean FREEDOM; freedom from thousands of finger pokes, gallons of insulin injections, and hundreds of pump site changes; freedom from the complications that having T1D brings,” Cathy says. “A cure would mean that JDRF would go out of business!”  That is a day that Cathy and millions of people look forward to celebrating.