Fund A Cure with Britt Prim, Robb Olson and Jay Olson | Breakthrough T1D Minneapolis Gala 2026

Every Thanksgiving, the Olson family gathers around the table for what has become our version of the Super Bowl.

The meal never changes much, but the blood sugar readings somehow do. Without fail, one of us finishes dinner at 42, another lands around 137, and someone else is wondering how they managed to hit 295 after confidently announcing they had the carb count nailed.

Forty-some years with Type 1 diabetes and Thanksgiving still has a way of keeping us humble.

These days, our sibling group text is just as likely to include Dexcom screenshots and A1C results as it is pictures of our kids. The competition never really stopped. We celebrate great numbers, give each other grief when they aren’t so great, and occasionally compare glucose graphs the way other siblings compare fantasy football standings.

That’s life when all three Olson kids have Type 1 diabetes.

Jay was diagnosed first in 1980.

Then Robb in 1986.

Then Brittany in 1988.

Three kids. Three diagnoses. Even today, people stop and ask, “All three?”

Yes. All three.

Our parents didn’t spend much time asking why. They spent their time figuring out what came next.

Looking back, it’s hard to appreciate just how much has changed.

When Jay was diagnosed, diabetes management meant peeing on test strips. Then came blood glucose meters that felt revolutionary. Later came insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, and now systems that actually talk to each other, adjusting insulin while we sleep and alerting our phones before we’re even aware something is changing.

We’ve had front-row seats to one of the most remarkable advances in medicine.

Our parents had front-row seats to all of it, too.

Our Dad spent much of our childhood traveling for work. Every trip helped provide something our family couldn’t go without: insulin, supplies, doctor visits, and the chance for three kids with Type 1 diabetes to grow up believing they could have full, adventurous lives.

Our Mom became an expert in diabetes because she had no other choice. Even now, decades later, she still worries when one of us travels alone for work or if she hears the dreaded quadruple beep alert for low blood sugar. Some things never change.

Neither did their philosophy.

Diabetes meant our lives needed to be a bit more planned than most, but it never meant they needed to be smaller.

We moved across North America. We played sports. We went to camp. We traveled. We chased careers. We got married. We had kids of our own.

Our parents never treated Type 1 diabetes like a reason to stay home.

They treated it like something to prepare for, manage well, and then get on with living.

Looking back as adults, that’s one of the greatest gifts they gave us.

It’s also why this honor means so much.

Breakthrough T1D has been part of our lives for as long as we can remember. Our Dad was on the board when we were growing up, so of course we spent countless hours stuffing envelopes.The research this community has funded has transformed what living with Type 1 diabetes looks like. Our childhoods were measured in fingersticks and logbooks. Today, our devices talk to one another in ways that would have sounded like science fiction when our parents were raising us.

We’re incredibly grateful to be recognized as this year’s Breakthrough T1D Champions, but the truth is we’ve always known who the real champions are.

Doug and Debbie Olson never asked to become experts in Type 1 diabetes.

They never asked to raise three children with it, either.

They simply loved us well.

They showed up for every doctor’s appointment, every middle-of-the-night low, every move, every milestone, and every season in between. They gave us the confidence to build big lives, not because diabetes disappeared, but because they never let it define what was possible.

They are the reason we take care of ourselves today. The reason we’ve built families of our own. The reason we believe the next generation deserves an even better future than the one we were given.

Most of all, they’re the reason we continue to fight for progress.

If you’d like to help us honor the life they made possible, we’d be grateful for your support. Every dollar moves us closer to a world where families like ours hear a diagnosis with far more hope than fear.

Thank you for helping us celebrate the two people who made all the difference.