Hello My Wickedly Awesome Family, Friends and Followers,

Today is all about one of Flyboy and my wickedly gorgeous princess (nieces) Makenzie. On Sunday we will be joining Makenzie in the JDRF walk and I’d like to share her story with you today, and most likely over this weekend you’ll here more about her as we visit with her.

TEAM MAKENZIE is gearing up to Walk To Cure Diabetes in 2011!  This is our third year to walk for a cure and Makenzie is our team Captain, but for Flyboy and I this will be our first time walking with Makenzie.

As some of you know, Makenzie was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes April of 2009, just before her First birthday.  As a Type 1 Diabetic, she will be insulin-dependent for the rest of her life. In her short 3 1/2 years, she already has endured over 15300 fingerpricks and 9500 insulin injections.  She is healthy and enjoys life thanks to her insulin pump she calls Robot… Makenzie has an inserted catheter in her back hip that ‘pumps’ insulin into her 24 hrs a day based on programming for HER! In addition to her rigorous blood testing and insulin doses/shots, every food she consumes must be weighed and measured, actvity monitored and her blood levels need to be checked every 2-3 hours, even while she sleeps.  She remains one of the most brave people we know….She is our hero.  We are so fortunate to be blessed with such a dynamic niece, and we do have a few of them.

Makenzie started school this September at Ascension Lutheran Early Childhhod Center – the only Acredited Nature Explore preschool in the state of California!!  She so enjoys the indor ~ outdoor curriculum.  She continues to enjoy swim lessons, dance, her scooter and trike, the zoo and runs to the playground faster than we can!! She rarely complains. As you’ve seen, she is full of smiles, laughs, and toddler mischief, amidst her daily diabetes routine.  Makenzie has shown great responsibility over the past year with her diabetes management.  She is very aware now that she is special to have a ‘Robot’, ‘Backpack’ and ‘Lady bug‘.  She participates in the testing and remote control insulin doses and she eagerly chats to her friends that she needs insulin to keep her healthy before her meals.  She is even learning to sew buttons on her clothes for the pump backpack (pouch) with Grammy!!  Makenzie continually amazes us and is a daily reminder of an adaptive, positive attitude.

There are many life long diseases out there today and causes to support.  The difference with juvenile diabetes is that wiping it out of existence is extremely attainable and within reach.  we feel confident a positive answer will be available in her lifetime – possibly during her school age years.

We are going to WALK TO CURE DIABETES again this year through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

JDRF is the #1 non-profit funder of diabetes research worldwide. One of JDRF’s largest fundraising events is the “Walk to Cure Diabetes.” This year’s walk in our area will be held on Sunday, November 6th, at Dodger Satadium!

If you are interested, there are two ways you can help us make a difference for Makenzie:

• You can join our Family Team, known as “Team Makenzie” which consists of family and friends who collect pledges and walk with us. The walk is a 5K (3.1 miles).
• You can send your donation and contact others in your circle of family and friends to donate as well.
• You go online to walk.jdrf.org

1.      “donate to a walker”

2.      enter:  TEAM MAKENZIE and State: CA

3.      Click “Find Walker”

4.      Select a Team Walker to Donate to

5.      Select “Donate Now” (right side of page)

Thank you in advance for helping our TEAM MAKENZIE meet our fund raising goal.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK ~ TEAM MAKENZIE ~ we will share post, videos and pictures of our WALK.

Teresa Crumpton

About Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic, debilitating disease affecting every organ system that strikes children and adults suddenly and lasts a lifetime.  Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food.  People with type 1 diabetes must take multiple injections of insulin daily or a continuous infusion of insulin through a pump just to survive.  Taking insulin does not cure any type of diabetes nor prevent the possibility of its eventual and devastating effects: kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack and stroke.  Unlike type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder that is often diagnosed in adulthood in which a person’s body still produces insulin but is unable to use it effectively.  There are approximately 3 million Americans living with type 1 diabetes, and more than 30,000 children and adults are diagnosed every year.