Thursday, January 21, 2010

Diabetes is a "Big Fat Turd"

What you haven't heard that quote?  Could be because those are the words of my 6yr old nephew.  He was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes when he was just 3 1/2 yrs old. The other day after he had to have a set change he told my sister that Diabetes was a turd in fact it was a "big fat turd."  Not sure anyone could have said it better.  For the past three years he has endured set changes for his insulin pump every other day (needle that is placed in your gluteus maximus muscle) and finger pricks about 15-17 times a day.  The kid is tough.  He loves to play hockey, in fact this picture isn't really of him flipping off Diabetes it is him showing a hockey wound, someone (I will not name who and you can't make me) skated over his finger and since he has Diabetes the wound took weeks and weeks to heal. 

So what is the point of me telling you about Joe?  Well I had a heck of an idea while running today.  That is where I do my best thinking and I am sure most of you do too.  I have been trying to figure out how I can make money for a charity (JDRF) with my running.  The other day my running buddy Anna told me I needed to Affiliate with companies so that I earned money when people read my blog and then bought items I was talking about.  Now you know where I am going with this.  Yippeee.  Ok so here it is: any and all money this site makes by affiliating or anything else I can think of will go to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund).  I do not quite have the hang of Affiliating and am not sure about using AdSense, so if anyone has ideas, lay them on me, I am all ears.  I am so excited about the chance to earn even a dime for this cause. 

Type I Diabetes is not the same as Type II, it isn't controlled by diet it is an autoimmune problem where basically the kids Pancreas stop working all together.  They have to wear pumps that give them a controlled constant flow of insulin and they have to constantly check their blood sugar to make sure it is in a normal range.  Can you imagine trying to keep a young active boys blood sugar in a normal range manually.  This takes a ton of work.   With Type I Diabetes comes all sorts of other issues for the kids, like blindness, kidney issues, problems with wounds healing, etc... A cure for this disease would really change a lot of kids lives.  85% of the money that is given to JDRF goes directly to research.  I would love to see a cure in Joe's lifetime and so for now this is the charity (my sister is also looking into some cutting edge scientists that are working on this, if they seem viable I would also like to donate to them) I am choosing to give any money this site earns to. 

Ok so I am not asking for money.  I am asking you to check my site and if I have a banner or button for a company (only have NorthFace so far) please use that link to buy the item you were already going to buy that way I get a kick back and that kick back goes to JDRF. I promise 100% of what I am able to make will go to charity.  Also if you have ideas on how I can make more please please let me know.  I would love to be able to donate a substantial sum to JDRF.

5 comments:

cathycrisp said...

this is awesome tara. he is a cutie!!!

AM! said...

found you on cafemom:)
we have the same blog template too:)
Maybe we runners think alike..haha!

tara said...

Cathy, he is a cutie, dang you should meet the kid, he is awesome. Anne Marie, You are a tri mom right, I have seen your posts and checked out your site, Awesome. I think you are the one who posted about 5K's today, couldn't agree with you more.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Tara! You are amazing... I cannot wait to show Joe tomorrow morning when he wakes-up. Love You, R

tara said...

Dude this is awesome, I was able to put in all the products I have been talking about on Amazon and anyone who goes into Amazon through this site will get JDRF 4% off of their purchase. This totally rocks. Maybe this will earn more than $1. Yipppee Yahoo. Give Joe a hug from us.