JDRF One Walk to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes - Chase's Champions, October 25, 2015 **One final push***
We are reaching out to let you know that our family and our team, Chase’s Champions, will be participating in the JDRF One Walk again this year. This year on October 25th, we will walk so that JDRF can continue funding Type 1 Diabetes research that improves lives and keeps people healthy and safe until a cure is found. This year, the walk is the day before Chase’s 3rd dia-birthday, which is the anniversary of the day he was diagnosed with T1D.
We would like to give you a small idea of what it is like for Chase to have diabetes. Chase loves basketball and is very excited to participate on our local AAU team this fall. He says basketball is his “thing” (along with cooking, drawing, lego design builds, reading about the stock market, etc, etc.) He had his first practice with this team last Wednesday. When Chase gets ready for practice, we have to make sure he has eaten some carbohydrates and his blood glucose (BG) is a little high to counteract the exercise that will bring his blood sugar down. What we usually see are low blood sugars at practices due to the exercise and high blood sugars during games due to adrenaline, which raises your BG. At the beginning of practice, Will gave him additional sugar because he was a little low. His blood sugar soared to 300 by the end of practice. By the time he got home he was almost 400 and he felt horribly sick. We gave him insulin to bring his BG down. We thought we had given him too many carbohydrates and sugar and that his body couldn’t burn all the glucose. For some reason Chase had a lot of adrenaline the first practice. We realized within 20 minutes that his blood sugar was high due to the adrenal. This is when like most parents, who have kids with diabetes, we started to panic a little bit. Chase’s blood sugar was dropping extremely fast, he was feeling sick, and we knew if we didn’t do something, he was going to go extremely low, which can be life threatening. Chase sat on Will’s lap while we gave him juice and sugar tablets. It was 2 hours of giving him sugar and checking his BG. It turned into a rough night as Chase’s BG continued to go low. Exercise can make blood sugar go low 12 and/or 24 hours later. Chase continued to go low throughout the day as his body was still dealing with the exercise. He had practice the next day as well. As a parent, your instincts are to keep him from going, but we can’t do that. We have to figure out how to help Chase live his life like everyone else. Although we took a totally different approach to handling carbohydrates and exercise the next practice, we struggled with the same exact results. This is Type 1 Diabetes.
While we wanted to give you a small snap shot of a part of Chase’s life, it’s more important to us that we share with you what your support has done for Chase. As our friends, family, and community, you have supported Chase from the day he was diagnosed. The JDRF One Walk at Fort Mason is his favorite day of the year. He feels your acceptance, encouragement, and your dedication to a world without Type 1 Diabetes. He wants to make a difference and because of you, he keeps pushing forward. Chase has been begging to do some public speaking on behalf of JDRF. In August, he spoke at the JDRF Walk Kickoff to other captains of teams in the Bay Area. His six minute message ended with “Push yourself to the limits by forming a team and raising more money than you ever thought imaginable.” Chase’s speech was featured on the Greater Bay Area JDRF website and published in their newsletter. He has been asked to speak at two more kick off events. An article about him, his team, and the JDRF Walk will be in the HMB Review this week. JDRF has also sent press releases to multiple newspapers and tv stations in the Bay Area. He’s getting some press and we want to thank you. Thank you for being a part of our village and for shaping our son. Thanks to your donations to One Walk, becoming members of Chase’s Champions, talking to Chase about this disease, and/or giving him a reassuring pat on the back, you are helping us raise our child to the independent and confident person he is becoming. We are eternally grateful.
We are asking for your continued support. Chase has pledged $35,000 this year and even more walkers. He says he knows it is ambitious, but he wants to continue to make a difference and prove that it can be done. Will you consider supporting him again either by walking with us and/or making a donation to the Walk? Chase is determined to help support JDRF in making life easier for those with Type 1 Diabetes and eventually finding a cure for the millions of people around the world affected by this disease. Please help us in turning Type One into Type None.
Eternal thanks,
Will & Jenny Urban
?Find us on Facebook: search for "Chase’s Champions"
?Check out Chase’s speech: bayareajdrf.org Look at ‘Latest News’.
To support Chase's Champions and help eradicate T1-D Click here to view the team page for Chase's Champions
DATE AND TIME
October 25, 2015
Check-in: 9:30 AM
Starts: 11:00 AM
Length of walk: 3 Miles
LOCATION
Great Meadow at Fort Mason
Bay St and Laguna St
San Francisco, CA 94123