Students and community members gathered Saturday night in the Wyoming Union to help raise money for juvenile diabetes research at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) art auction. Local artists donated pieces that were auctioned off in this charitable event and just over $1,400 was raised.
“Both children and adults like me who live with type 1 diabetes need to be mathematicians, physicians, personal trainers and dieticians all rolled into one,” said JDRF International Chairman, Mary Tyler Moore, on the JDRF website. “We need to be constantly factoring and adjusting, making frequent finger sticks to check blood sugars and giving ourselves multiple daily insulin injections just to stay alive.”
Since the JDRF was founded in 1970, they have given more than $1.7 billion to diabetes research. All of this came from the efforts of grassroots volunteers that are connected to children, adolescents and adults with this disease. According to their website, JDRF is now the largest charitable supporter of type 1 diabetes research and will not rest until diabetes is completely eliminated.
The auction made strides in helping to achieve this goal with help of the Cardinal Key Honor Society, ASUW and the College of Health Sciences who helped fund the event. A spectrum of items from jewelry and gift certificates to photography and painting were offered for silent and competitive bid. These items were from different genres and artists so there was an item that appealed to everyone in attendance.
In addition to the pieces of art that were up for bid, the event also hosted three inspirational speakers affected by type 1 diabetes who shared their stories with the audience. The first, Stephanie Koci, a registered nurse and the key diabetes specialist at Ivinson Memorial Hospital, is just one of many adults living with type 1 diabetes. According to JDRF, 85 percent of those living with type 1 diabetes are adults.
One of the children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes is seven-year-old Kendall Lind. Her mother, Kerri Lind, was the second speaker at the event and spoke about the daily challenges that they faced. Her daughter is not a rarity as one in 400 children and adolescents has diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.
The final speaker, Sami Jo Heitsch, has been living with this disease since she was four-years-old. However, she has not let this stop her from living her life and was crowned Miss Frontier in the 2012 Cheyenne Frontier Days.
“Everything they said was so inspiring,” said Abegail Cave, Cardinal Key secretary and JDRF cochair, “but all of them said that while this disease was a daily challenge, it only made them stronger.”
