June 29th, 2016.
That’s the day Sunny’s life changed forever. She was barely 3 years old. She was so sick and so fragile.
June 29th, 2016.
That’s the day our family changed forever. We were shocked and scared and confused.
June 29th, 2016.
That’s the day Type One Diabetes barged into our lives with force and with a vengeance.
2016 – SunnyLou’s first Walk
My name is Jenna Moulton, I am a mom to three beautiful children. Our youngest, SunnyLou, has type 1 diabetes (T1D). The first time I learned about T1D was when SunnyLou was getting diagnosed. My husband and I knew nothing about this disease. When I say nothing, I mean absolutely nothing. Hearing this diagnosis was shattering. I felt lost and hopeless.
We were admitted for four days at Children’s Hospital. We needed to get Sunny stabilized and then we had days of education. What they should have said is, “We need to teach you how to keep your child alive.” The classes were overwhelming and confusing. I thought how are we going to do this? How are we going to keep her alive? Too much insulin will kill her but not enough could do the same. The finger pokes were the easiest. Poking her 8-12x a day to make her tiny finger bleed was not hard. She didn’t mind the blood, she actually found it fascinating. The hardest part were the injections. The injections of a life saving hormone that we had to give 4-6x a day. Every time she ate we had to come at her with a needle. Most often than not we had to chase down this 3 year old screaming and crying to inject with something that would save her, well, if we did the calculations right, did we do the calculations right?
2016 Breakthrough T1D One Walk
And that’s what did it, the constant second guessing is what got me involved with the Breakthrough T1D. We couldn’t do it on our own. We needed support and we needed to be surrounded with hope and understanding. We needed to fight for our Sunny girl, we needed to get out there and DO SOMETHING! Six weeks after Sunny’s diagnosis we went to our first Breakthrough T1D One Walk. We didn’t form a team and we really didn’t know what to expect. I couldn’t believe it! Thousands and thousands of people showed up on an early Saturday morning walking for the same ultimate goal. They were there because they have T1D, have a loved one with T1D or has been touched by it someway. I think I cried throughout the whole walk. SunnyLou saw people and children injecting themselves with insulin and checking their blood sugars. And I knew we were home. We found our people that were going to find a cure for our little girl and we were going to be a part of it.
Snack Stand 2017!
Fast forward to August 2017 just over a year into Sunny’s diagnosis, we walked again and we formed our team, “Live Life on the Sunny Side!” We raised just over $5,000. The support that we got from our friends, family and coworkers was incredible. We had about 70 people on our walk team. Days like the One Walk and everything that goes into it makes living with T1D easier for Sunny. She has fun at these events and fundraising for these events. For example, last year, our three kids and quite a few neighborhood kids did a snack stand to raise money for our Walk team. They ran the cash register and passed out facts about T1D, the One Walk and Breakthrough T1D. And in just four short hours they raised almost $500 ($468, to be exact!)!
Type 1 diabetes completely sucks and we NEED TO FIND A CURE. But events like the Breakthrough T1D One Walk bring so much hope to this disease. Our family is so thankful for our Breakthrough T1D family and I know, SunnyLou feels the same.
Join us on Saturday, August 25th at the 2018 Breakthrough T1D One Walk!
– Jenna, Kurt, Milo, Mayzie & SunnyLou
