Bring Your Child to Work Day 2012

My wife's company, Novartis, does an amazing job every year with Bring Your Child to Work Day, they put a lot of resources and manpower into creating an informative and fun day for the kids. This year the focus was on how products are imagined, marketed, and brought to a store near you. People from all different parts of the company spoke to the children and explained what their department did and why it was important to the process. After each "talk" the kids performed different tasks with the goal of producing a cookie that they could sell at the end of the day.

All of the proceeds from the cookie sales are being donated to our JDRF chapter so the last talk of the day was from me and Arden. We explained the difference between type I and type 2 diabetes, gave an overview of the JDRF and had a hands-on look at Arden's OmniPod insulin pump and her DexCom CGM. Insulet was kind enough to send me some non working or dummy OmniPods so that the kids could try them on if they wanted to.

The day was a wonderful success raising $1,100 for the JDRF, an amount that will be matched by Novartis 100% for a grand total of $2,200! 

One of the best parts of the day was watching the kids work so hard on their cookie ideas, boxes and then seeing the hustle they all showed selling the cookies. It was while they were selling that I began to really notice all of the OmniPods on their arms and I have to admit that it was a very warming experience to see the children so enthusiastic and excepting of it. If I had enough pods I think every kid in the room would have been wearing one.

Arden and her team sold chocolate chip cookies and their marketing hook was that they had a celebrity endorsement, if you look closely at the boxes you'll see, "Arden's Favorite Cookies" on the sides.

Big thanks to Novartis, my lovely wife Kelly for suggesting that the JDRF would be a great place to send the funds collected and Insulet for sending the pods for the kids to wear. 

I explained to the children that advocacy and awareness is what people with type I need the most from them and that I hoped they would tell someone about the good work that they did. I was very proud of all of them for the attention, effort and concern that they displayed throughout the day... it was a great experiance for everyone!

JDRF Announces Research Collaboration with Dexcom, Inc. to Develop

I love the varied ways that the JDRF supports diabetes research. Getting behind a company like DexCom and assisting them with their search for better CGM technology is forward thinking philanthropy. I can't wait to see what great devices are born from this union.

NEW YORK, April 24, 2012 - JDRF, the leading global organization focused on type 1 diabetes (T1D) research, announced today that it has partnered with Dexcom, Inc. (NASDAQ:DXCM), a San Diego, CA-based medical device company focused on developing and marketing continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems. The goal of the partnership is to accelerate the development of a novel wireless "smart transmitter" that would allow a CGM system to communicate directly with an artificial pancreas control device currently being used for research studies, instead of only with a CGM receiver. 

JDRF will provide Dexcom up to $500,000 over 12 months in milestone-based funding to complete the development, testing, and manufacturing of a custom "smart transmitter" prototype, which will be used for studies within JDRF's Artificial Pancreas Project academic research consortium.  The direct communication capability enabled by the smart transmitter will be an important feature for artificial pancreas trials in outpatient (real-world) settings, as it would eliminate the need for a trial participant to carry multiple devices all wired together while testing an artificial pancreas system's ability to manage glucose levels. 

People with T1D are burdened with constantly having to determine the right amount of insulin to dose at the right time, multiple times every day. Yet even with diligent monitoring, a significant portion of the day is still spent with either high or low blood sugar, placing them at risk for devastating complications. The artificial pancreas under development will be an external device that people with T1D could use to do what their bodies cannot-automatically control their blood sugar around the clock. It will work by combining an insulin pump and a CGM, which provides glucose readings every 1-5 minutes, with sophisticated computer software that allows the two devices to "talk to each other" to determine and provide automatically the right amount of insulin at the right time. Currently, all in-hospital artificial pancreas studies use wires and cables to connect a CGM system and an insulin pump to laptop computers or smartphones, which act as the artificial pancreas controllers.

In current CGM systems, the transmitter sends real-time glucose levels from the sensor to a receiver. In comparison, Dexcom's next generation of "smart transmitters" will have the ability to wirelessly transmit a glucose value directly to multiple devices, including several versions of an artificial pancreas controller.

"This robust wireless capability could greatly enhance the performance of closed-loop algorithms in outpatient studies, and we are proud to be working with JDRF on this exciting venture," said Terrance Gregg, chief executive officer of Dexcom. 

"In order for us to truly achieve real-life outpatient studies of artificial pancreas systems, we need systems that will allow people the freedom and ability to move around while also providing safety, monitoring, and data collection," said Aaron Kowalski, Ph.D., assistant vice president of treatment therapies for JDRF. "Dexcom's 'smart transmitter' will allow the sensor to talk directly to multiple artificial pancreas control devices, and essentially eliminate the hassle of being encumbered by wires and other devices while trying to be active. Now that the first outpatient studies have started, the development of robust wireless connection capability is a key step toward accelerating the delivery of an artificial pancreas to all patients with T1D."

Promise Meeting 2011

I spent an hour this afternoon with a handful of wonderful people. We gathered in our Congressman's office to support the work that the JDRF does. I have to say that I believe these meetings are a significant tool in spreading support for type I diabetes amongst our lawmakers. I found our congressman to be engaged, interested and concerned but there was more to the meeting then just pleasantries, the congressman spoke about close relatives of his that have type I as well as his spouse being effected by other autoimmune disorders. He was very aware of studies, laws and pending bills that all have a great effect on your life and mine.

I left with a very positive feeling but most importantly I believe that he will tell the stories that we told him to others in Washington. 

I encourage you to sign up for a Promise meeting in your area, you'll be glad that you did!

Just click on http://jdrfpromise.org and you'll be signed up in no time!

I hope to have a photo from the event soon...

Jdrf Walk: 2011

Arden and Dan Stewart at the 2010 walk

A number of weeks ago I sent an email to every person that had every made a donation to Arden's JDRF walk. I thanked them for their past generosity and informed them that I would not activly be collecting money for the JDRF this year. I honestly felt like everyone could use a break. 

We are still walking on October 23 and invite everyone to join us and we still belive 100% in the charity, please don't think otherwise. We simpley wanted to acknowledge that we understand how valuable your time and money is, say thank you and take a break.

If you want to walk with Arden on the 23, simply sign up at this link and I'll send you the details as the day gets closer.

Let me say in closing that if you would still like to make a donation to the JDRF, that is wonderful and you can still donate through Arden's link. I just won't be reminding you about it every few days as I have in the past. 

Sometimes email doesn't cut it

Earlier this week I spoke on the phone with the mother of a child with type I diabetes. The story of how we met is short but it points out just how powerful and rewarding helping another person can be.

Last year I spoke to our Congressperson about Arden's diabetes during a JDRF Promise Meeting which led to a staffer in his office sharing my web address with someone. That person emailed me with a question nearly a year later and we decided to talk over the phone instead of going back and forth vial email.

And I'm very glad that we did!

Had we not spoken, I would have just answered her questions and probably never heard from her again. Instead, we had a meaningful conversation that went far beyond her initial question and it left us both feeling better about a number of issues that can hang over parents like us. 

The details are private but this statement tells the story. She told me that was so happy that she spoke because, "I always thought that I was the only one going through all of this" and that feeling left her with the terrible feeling that she must "be doing everything completely wrong".

I knew exactly how she was feeling because I've felt the same way in the past. I urge anyone that is feeling defeated by the rigors of caring for a child with type I to find someone to talk to who can understand your concerns. You can't imagine how much better you'll feel after you've spoken to someone that has walked a mile in your shoes. 

I was so happy to be able to help another type I parent that the experiance rekindled an idea that I had last year... I hope to have some more news about that very soon.

Please know that the you aren't alone, that it is very likely that the moments that seem like failures are quite common and that I'm always here if you want to reach out.

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