Monthly Archives: January 2015

Scholarships! Get your red hot scholarships!

January 20, 2015 – 12:29 pm

This past Wednesday’s DSMA Twitter Chat was all about travel and diabetes. Actually, it turned out that travel and diabetes was part of it, and travel for diabetes was another part of it.

Anyway, one of our questions was:

Are you aware that there are groups who offer scholarships to attend diabetes events?

I was shocked to find out that many were not aware of this fact. That doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with those people. Rather, it means we, as a community, need to do a better job of letting people know about said scholarships and we need to do a better job of supporting those organizations who do award scholarships.

Every time a semi-big diabetes event occurs, or someone writes about their child with diabetes going away to a camp or something, a lot of hand-wringing goes on about who is there, and why, or how, they got there in the first place. Well, we get there a number of ways (and I realize I’m using “we” with a very big umbrella here). Sometimes these things are geographically close to us. Or we actually, you know, save our money so we can afford to get there. Some events are invitation-only and travel is paid for those who attend. And yes, sometimes, we receive scholarships.

I can’t do anything about those first three things. But as far as the scholarships are concerned: I can let you know about them, and then it’s up to you to either apply for them or not. And if you have a desire to go, and you can’t quite fit it into your budget, why wouldn’t you apply?

This is my attempt to give you a rundown of the scholarship opportunities I know about right now. This is not a comprehensive list, but it’s a start, and if you know of additional resources, please leave a comment below or send me an e-mail and I’ll add them. Some of these are actual scholarships to college for kids with diabetes, and some are scholarships that will help you or your child attend a diabetes event that you might not otherwise be able to travel to.

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First, let me tell you about the amazing work of Diabetes Scholars. Since 2004, the non-profit Diabetes Scholars Foundation has provided scholarships for over 3,000 families to attend the big diabetes meetup of the year, Children With Diabetes Friends for Life conference in Orlando. Many of these families would not be able to go without the assistance of Diabetes Scholars. Diabetes Scholars also provides college scholarships to high school seniors looking to further their education. Get all the details on scholarship opportunities and the application process at
diabetesscholars.org.
 
 
Speaking of college, College Diabetes Network has a terrific list of college scholarships available throughout the USA. These are scholarships that are available from a number of sources, but this page contains a brief description of each scholarship opportunity and a link to its source:
https://collegediabetesnetwork.org/content/scholarships
 
 
Diabetes Hands Foundation and Diabetes Advocates: These two non-profit orgs (DA is a group of, well, diabetes advocates under the DHF umbrella) provide scholarships to a variety of D-conferences throughout the year, including the annual American Association of Diabetes Educators conference, American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions, and Friends for Life. In addition, they created one day scholarships to attend MasterLab, a one-day advocacy workshop at FFL last year, and my guess is they will do the same this year (though I have no inside knowledge). To look into scholarship opportunities, start at
diabeteshandsfoundation.org.
Disclosure: I received a scholarship from Diabetes Advocates to attend MasterLab last year. More about that in a minute.
 
 
The American Diabetes Association, in addition to support received from corporate sponsors (thank you Eli Lilly), helps to provide “camperships” for kids to attend diabetes camps across America. The process is pretty simple, and it’s spelled out at
http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/diabetes-camp/financial-assistance.html
 
 
The always-inspiring Team Type 1 Foundation works to provide help, hope, and awesome examples of athletes with Type 1 diabetes making a positive influence on the world. They also provide college scholarships to Type 1 athletes competing at NCAA and NAIA institutions. Their scholarship page has all the information, including requirements:
http://teamtype1.org/gasp/

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That’s the list so far. I know there are many, many more scholarship opportunities out there, but I just haven’t found them yet. Again, if you know about something not mentioned here, leave me a comment or an e-mail, and I’ll add it to the list.

One other thing, and this is personal, so feel free to ignore the rest of this post: As I mentioned above, I received a scholarship to attend MasterLab last year. A couple of months later (or maybe I just noticed it a couple of months later), I read a few things about a person or persons who were unhappy, and felt like the same people are always getting to go to important diabetes events. Well, I felt horrible about that. This was the only thing I’ve ever been given (other than an invitation) to attend a diabetes event. But since then, I’ve wondered if, by accepting a scholarship to attend, I was denying someone else’s opportunity.

So this year, I’m not applying for any scholarships. If I can afford to go to something, I will. If I cannot, I won’t, and I won’t worry about it. This is my decision, and my decision alone, and I doubt it will have any real impact at all. After all, I’m not exactly giving up something I’ve already been granted. And I can’t say that I’ll always feel this way. Each year carries its own concerns and priorities, and I may go back and apply for scholarships in 2016. But for this year, if you want to apply for a scholarship, know that you have one less competitor.

That doesn’t mean I’ll be completely absent from everything this year. I get a lot out of going to diabetes events… I learn a lot, which is something I feel I need, and I can’t discount the interaction that goes on among people I can call friends now. But hopefully, those people are still my friends whether I’m there in person or not. And the fact is, I don’t really attend a lot in person anyway, and a lot has been done over the past couple of years to help get content online for people who aren’t able to attend something in person. In the end, I have an admitted desire to go to everything I can get to. But if I don’t make it this year, it’s not the end of the world.

You? You should go. Educate yourself. Meet people. Form bonds. Ramp up your advocacy. And if you need a little help to get there, always be on the lookout for scholarship opportunities.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Events | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Like these links: College scholarships and the JDRF Research Summit.

January 16, 2015 – 9:49 am

I just have a couple of minutes on a very busy day, but I wanted to let you know about a couple of things that might be of interest. Hopefully, you’ve heard of these already, but if not, consider yourself informed.
 
 
This will matter most to people living in the USA’s Mid-Atlantic region, but these are being held all over the country this year. So if you’re not close enough to attend, look for a similar event in your area soon.

Registration is open for the JDRF Type One Nation DC Research Summit on March 7 in Bethesda, Maryland. Find out more about the summit in previous years by reading this and this.

Free to attend (a donation is suggested), the summit offers speakers on a variety of topics including the latest Type 1 research, JDRF’s continuing mission, how to manage your diabetes through exercise and stress, and much more. As in past years, there will also be a kid’s track and a teen track, so the young ones won’t be bored while all of the adult stuff is going on. In addition to that, there promises to be an exhibit hall full of the latest information and products. I’ll never forget how swamped the t:slim table was last year.

This year’s event will also include two optional morning workshops: One on managing diabetes through sports and exercise with Gary Scheiner, MS, CDE of Integrated Diabetes Services. He was last year’s AADE Diabetes Educator of the Year, and if you haven’t seen Gary do his thing, let me tell you… you don’t want to miss the valuable information he’ll provide.

The other morning workshop will be Taking T1D to School, featuring a panel of specialists who can help give you all you need on planning and preparing for each year as your kid works their way through the school system. Featured speaker for this workshop will be Sarah Butler, MS, RN, CDE, NCSN, Director of Diabetes and Nursing Education for the National Association of School Nurses. In other words, she probably knows her stuff.

The other thing I will say about this get together is the same thing I say every year: If you’ve had difficulty connecting with other people living with Type 1 diabetes, or other families living with T1D, this is the perfect place to solve that problem. Last year, over 800 people attended this event, so if you go, you’re bound to make new D-friends. It’s a laid back atmosphere, usually with plenty of room to stretch out, and everyone there speaks your language. Did I mention lunch is included too?

To get the skinny and register for the JDRF Type One Nation DC Research Summit, go to:
http://jdrfsummit.org
 
 
Diabetes Scholars is accepting applications right now for scholarships! They currently have 11 scholarships to give away to high school seniors planning to attend a four year college, university, technical, or trade school. Some of these scholarships are for as much as five thousand dollars, so if you’re planning to go off to college (or your young adult at home is), now is the time to apply.

To be eligible, you must be a high school senior living with Type 1 diabetes, and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Applications will be accepted until April 15, so warm up your typing fingers and get the process started today:
http://diabetesscholars.org/college-scholarship/
 
 
I owe… I owe… it’s off to work I go. That’s all for now. Have a great weekend!
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Events | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

We need to take care of ourselves.

January 14, 2015 – 9:37 am

Wow, what a difficult morning… or was it?

Yesterday, I got out of bed a little late (maybe 15 minutes), and like most mornings, I had a list of things to do before I left for work. Shower, shave, get my clothes on, go downstairs, let the dog out, feed the dog and cat, start the coffee (always high on the list), make my own breakfast, pack my lunch, and…

Take my medicine. I mean that both literally and figuratively.

Fifteen minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is a lot when I also have to look after my diabetes. I forgot to do a BG check before I made breakfast (I am definitely a pre-boluser), and that frustrated me. So I stopped what I was doing, washed my hands like a good little boy, and performed the finger stick. I’m home free, right? Wrong.

I forgot to take my oral meds. This includes a multivitamin and a baby aspirin every day. That’s another thing I have to stop for.

Then, when I was within five minutes of leaving, I realized: I needed an infusion set change. There wasn’t enough insulin left in my reservoir to last through the workday; so once again, I had to stop what I was doing to focus on, you know, doing stuff that will help keep me alive. I arrived at work just in time, and started a full schedule of meetings and testing.

This kind of morning really bothers me. Until I’m actually out the door. Then I’m all business, not thinking about the things I have to do for my health and how much time they take out of my life. I mean, I get it: I’m extremely fortunate to be able to buy drugs and vitamins, and have an insulin pump to help me manage my diabetes. I don’t like the extra time that managing and worrying about my diabetes takes. But I also tend to sweep it under the rug a lot. My Midwestern upbringing taught me to not complain about things I can’t change; just deal with them and move on.

And I can usually handle that, until I’m confronted with it in a way that makes me stress over the time these things require, in a very tangible way. Then everything is different, and the relentless nature of diabetes is manifested in ways that can make me very unpleasant to live with for a while.

In the end though, what can I do? I just did what I had to do… I took care of myself. It’s easy for us to forget that, isn’t it? We need to take care of ourselves. Regardless of the time it takes. We are worth that effort. Our health and well-being come first. And though it might make a few of my colleagues uncomfortable to read this, work will still be there if I’m five minutes late.

Despite the time it required, once everything was finished, I was ready for the rest of my day. Diabetes frustrated me yesterday, but I was still able to tame it by taking the time needed to take care of me.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Additional Inspiration | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

How are you feeling?

January 12, 2015 – 10:01 am

So… How are you feeling?

Hopefully, you haven’t had to go through the awful cold bug that’s been going around the USA. I got to experience that around Christmas and New Year’s. Lots of gunk in my chest, off and on nausea, and it took a little over two weeks to feel right again.

Now that I’m on the mend, I’m back to getting active. Mostly, that means time on my spin bike upstairs. I’ve been trying to get into better shape by simply electing to do more than I was doing the previous three months or so, and be more consistent about it. No big predictions about what I’ll look like in six months, no lofty goals about competing in the Iron Man triathlon in Hawaii (although, in reality, I’ve never dreamed that high).
Workout Room with Large Mirrors
Right now, it’s all about doing what I can do to feel better. Looking better will hopefully come later. Oh, there are athletic events on my radar… there always are. But at this point, I just want to be able to string together a few months of regular workouts without getting sick or having something else happen that will give me an easy excuse to give up.

My record-setting days are probably behind me now. Heck, even my personal record-setting days are probably behind me now. But I’m not dead yet. Far from it. Now I’m concentrating on feeling good, being healthier, and when I do participate in an athletic event, having fun. There ain’t nothing wrong with that. Especially if I’m able to make more efficient use of the insulin that squeezes from the pump attached to my waist each day.

Meanwhile, I’m making extra-sure that I cough into my elbow, dress in layers this time of year, and use plenty of hand sanitizer (but not before I perform a BG check).

What about you? How are you feeling? Have any personal goals this year, athletic or otherwise? Let’s talk.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Saturday’s Champion Athlete With Diabetes: Will the basketball star.

January 10, 2015 – 3:45 pm

It’s time for one more… one more inspiring, feel-good story this week about an athlete living with diabetes and chasing their athletic dreams.
Champion-Athletes-With-Diabetes-Medal
Today’s athlete, like so many others this week, is a young person, diagnosed as a young person. Will has been living with Type 1 diabetes since he was 5 1/2 years old. Now he’s eight years old and playing on his first basketball team! His Mom, Angie Herbrand of suburban Madison, Wisconsin had this to say back in December:

“He LOVES playing sports, especially basketball. Example – a friend gave him a LeBron James jersey for his birthday last week. He has worn that jersey seven days in a row. Yep, seven. He’s always got a basketball in his hand. Even when he doesn’t have a ball handy, he’ll jog down the hall perfecting his shot with a make-believe basketball.

Yesterday he tried out for his first basketball league, and he rocked it. He is so excited to start playing!”

Will made a long shot during his tryout that none of the other kids were able to make.

And that’s not all… Angie told me later that Will participated in basketball and mountain biking day camps this past summer, and a snowboarding camp in December. Shout Out: Those events were specifically for Type 1 kids, provided by Riding on Insulin and Slam Dunk for Diabetes. Yay diabetes fitness organizations!

Congratulations Will! Pursuing your athletic goals is great for you, and hearing how much fun you’re having makes me even happier to call you a Champion Athlete With Diabetes.
 
 
Don’t forget: If you’re like Will, achieving athletic goals while living with diabetes, or if someone close to you is doing that, click here or on the image of the medals in the upper left of this page, and we’ll get started on your medal today.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Athletes With Diabetes | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)