For the past 20 years I’ve worked as a lawyer for all the gas stations and convenience stores in Wisconsin.  It was a job that felt like the natural progression of my childhood.  As a kid I sold gas from the end of my dad’s fuel dock in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin.  I had the strongest nine year old arms of any girl in Door County, thanks to lifting those six gallon red tanks all day long.

The reason I loved working for the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association was because of my wonderful members/clients.  All gas stations in Wisconsin are independently owned and often multi-generational family businesses.  For example, when I drive through Waunakee, I know all the Mobil stations are owned by Meffert Oil.  I also know that company president Randy Meffert is deeply devoted to his community.  He’s involved in just about every aspect of the town, but probably most known as a volunteer fireman and the sponsor who recently brought Paralympic athletes’ to Waunakee.  He wanted “to bring awareness to adaptive sports and people with disabilities.”

All the petroleum marketers I worked with had similar stories. They are the reason I truly believe small business owners are the vitality and backbone of Wisconsin’s economy.

Dut during the Memorial Day weekend of 2007 my focus changed.  My daughter Stella, not yet 2, had been desperately thirsty.  My husband Peter took her to the doctor to make sure Stella was fine before we traveled to the Upper Peninsula.  Peter was told, “just don’t let her drink so much.”  I have terrible memories of Stella begging for milk all that long weekend.  Then she got very lethargic.

Sadly, I know our story is all too familiar.  I’m grateful that the tiny hospital in Manistique Michigan was able to treat Stella, start re-hydrating her, and package her up for transport to the hospital in Green Bay.  Stella spent three days there, recovering from DKA.  Then we moved to the UW Children’s Hospital in Madison where Peter and I learned how to be Stella’s pancreas.

Desperate for hope, I searched for information about a possible cure.  That’s how I found JDRF.  Four months after Stella was diagnosed, we formed our first walk team and raised $10,000.  Last year marked the 10^th walk for team Stella’s Stars and we’ve now raised nearly $100,000 to help fund research.  But mostly we walk for a very specific reason: it fills our reservoir of hope.  After a walk we all feel closer to a cure and energized to deal with the daily drudgery of T1D.

In the 10 years my family has been involved, we’ve seen great advances in diabetes treatment and cure research.  Stella has benefited from newly developed technology.  She now wears an insulin pump and a CGM.   Most importantly, Stella is now a healthy, athletic, thriving eleven year old with an energetic seven year old brother.  Max both adores and torments his sister.

So, when the position of Executive Director for the Western Wisconsin JDRF Chapter opened up, I knew it was my dream job.  It marries my lifelong desire to make the world a better place (that’s why I went to law school) with my personal passion to help achieve a world without Type 1 diabetes.

Of course, with your help, my dream job could also be my shortest job!