Leslie Gonzalez
On October 4, 2011, our lives were turned upside down. Hannah, our oldest, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She had just turned 11, started middle school, and had shiny new braces on her teeth. She also went from being healthy and carefree to being insulin-dependent, testing her blood and taking insulin shots multiple times a day. Gone were the days when Hannah could walk by a bag of Oreos and pop one in her mouth…every morsel had to be weighed, measured, accounted for…matched with insulin. Suddenly we were reading food labels, counting carbs, measuring insulin, and administering shots.
Hannah did not complain once. In fact, she shocked us with her mature resolve with her new reality. She took her shiny optimistic attitude and empowered herself with knowledge about her disease. One month after her diagnosis, she held a meeting with her classmates (90 of them!) to educate them about type 1. She also became a speaker for the school system’s program “Understanding our Differences”, where several times a year she presents her story about type 1 diabetes to 4th grade students throughout our home town. She definitely made lemonade with the lemons she was given.
While she does an awesome job living her life without limitations and with a smile, living with type 1 diabetes is like caring for a crying, inconsolable baby around the clock. Consider this: her fingers are permanently scarred from all the needle pricks; she periodically has scar tissue where she wears her pump making it impossible for the insulin to successfully reach her blood; during a training run, or any activity, if she goes “low” she must sit out, take sugar, and rest until her levels are normal again—which at a minimum is 15 minutes; she has to be super responsible about what she eats ensuring insulin is acting in her body to counteract all the food; and if we test her blood in the middle of the night and she is low, she must wake up and drink juice! Nothing easy about this disease…but then again, we are very aware that it could be worse.
Breakthrough T1D has been a source of education, comfort and connections since Hannah’s diagnosis. We have attended various educational events sponsored by Breakthrough T1D. Thanks to Breakthrough T1D we have met other families also living with type 1, learned about current and forthcoming treatments, and felt inspired that this awesome organization is doing everything to make living with type 1 easier until there is a cure. Most importantly, Breakthrough T1D is making advances towards a cure and new treatments like the artificial pancreas that will transform the lives of people living with type 1 diabetes. Visit https://jdrf.org/research to learn more!
In early 2015, I received an email from Breakthrough T1D asking if I was ready for a new challenge: to do the Cohasset Triathlon for Breakthrough T1D. I’ve wanted to do a major fundraiser for Breakthrough T1D…and doing a Tri has been on my bucket list. What a perfect combination! I eagerly registered, began training and fundraising. I am proud that I raised $10,000 that first year. This year, I registered to do the Cohasset Tri 2016, only this time three of my kids signed up to do it with me! The Cohasset Triathlon is a combination of a .25 mile ocean swim, a 12 mile bike ride and a 3.2 mile run. While I did the entire course, my kids participated as a relay team—meaning they each took a “leg” of the event. My 11-year-old son Noah did the ocean swim; Matthew, my 14-year-old, did the bike ride; and Hannah, now almost 16, did the run. We all had an amazing time—and they all want to participate again next year as individual competitors! It was an amazing experience participating in the Tri with my kids…and I’m so proud that we raised about $14,000 this year for Breakthrough T1D!
It has been an honor and a privilege joining Breakthrough T1D in its quest to turn Type One into Type None!
To learn more about the Cohasset Triathlon, visit www.cohassettri.com.
