In the ballroom of  The Heldrich Hotel, emotion, energy and excitement combined to create “magic” at the 14th Annual Crystal Ball: looking back MOVING FORWARD on Friday, May 10, 2013.  The event’s theme focused on looking back at how far diabetes research has come since the discovery of the disease and the leaps it has taken since Breakthrough T1D’s inception in 1970.  More importantly, it highlighted the direction the foundation is taking on the path to a cure: Less Until None.  The event raised $165,000 through sponsorships, ticket sales, silent and live auctions and Fund A Cure.

Among the highlights of the evening were emotional speeches made by honorees, John and Debbie Nuzzo.  Three months before her wedding in 1972, Nuzzo, then 19, was preparing to walk down the aisle and start her new life.  Her plans were derailed when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D).  She recently told Countdown Magazine, “It knocked the wind out of my sails.  Our family doctor said to go home and let my fiancé know the news because he might not want to go through with the wedding.” Forty-one years later, the two are still happily married, and John is so in tune with her diabetes that he is sometimes more aware of her night time lows than she is.

The excitement 0f the evening rose during the live auction when donor, Tim McDougald, approached the stage to donate the family’s Maine home a second time after two guests entered a bidding war for the vacation.  The item raised $10,000.  But the climax of the auction was when the hand-made quilt (pictured below) adorned with the hand prints of Mid Jersey Chapter youth and adults with T1D was announced.  Another bidding war ensued, but ended quickly when the bid jumped from $1,200 to $3,000 in one bound…Going Once, Going Twice, Sold for $3,000!  Guests then danced the night away to the sounds of Daddy Pop.

Quilt skillfully crafted by Mary Beth O’Hara, materials donated by the Mid Jersey Chapter Board of Directors and artwork contributions made by youth and adults of the Mid Jersey Chapter – Many thanks to all for making this unique work of art possible.