Why Walk Wednesday will be a new Facebook Post each week.  We are looking for walkers and teams to share their story on why they walk! The Central Jersey Chapter will post a story each Wednesday until Wednesday October 22nd. Please contact our office at 732-219-6654 or centraljersey@BreakthroughT1D.org if you are willing to share your story.

 

Wednesday  September 3, 2014

Meet The Corsaro Family.  They are walking this year again at our Liberty State Park Walk on Saturday, October 25th!

 

 

 

 

 

Why Walk Wednesday – By team “Miracle for Matthew”

When Matthew was diagnosed at only 15 months old, I as his mother had to mourn the loss of the childhood and life that I had imagined for him. However, thanks to the support of our family and friends, I now fight for a life for him that is even better than I could have imagined. Since Matthew was so young when he was diagnosed, he has really never known a life without diabetes. He will only know a life of finger sticks, insulin pumps and infusion sets. But at the same time, he will also only know a life of support. A life of watching his family and friends do everything they can to help improve his way of life and move towards a cure.

We walk for the little T1D kids that only know life with Diabetes…
I was working as a Pediatric Nurse and had seen plenty of signs and symptoms of diabetes in my career. But when it is your own child, your perspective is different. I had noticed him drinking 10 oz of water from his sippy cup without coming up for air. I had noticed he was also veraciously hungry for carbs like Veggie Chips . He was very sleepy and he was peeing so frequently that the size 5 diaper was literally exploding every 2-3 hours! Still, since we did not have any history of diabetes in our family and so many people, including coworkers, laughed off my question of Diabetes assuming I was comparing him to his twin brother. But after a few days of the very unusual behavior I mentioned, I knew something was wrong and I acted before he went into DKA.

We walk to raise awareness of the growing epidemic that is T1D…
Since his diagnosis on April 26, 2011, we have watched a baby boy grow into an energetic preschooler. We have watched him get excited to go outside and hit a baseball and kick a soccer ball. He have watched him run around like house, pretending to be superheroes. Batman once said, “It is not the moments of tragedy that determine our lives so much as the choices we make to deal with them.” While Superheroes like this are used to battling the Joker and the Riddler, our Matthew applies that same attitude when he battles Type 1 Diabetes. That is why he is my Superman. And I am proud to be Superman’s mommy (www.supermansmommy.com)

 

Wednesday July 23, 2014

Meet Autumn Rose & Family. They are this year’s Ocean County Community Chair for the Jersey Shore Walk on Sunday October 19th.

My name is Autumn Rose and I am 11 years old. This is my story of my life with diabetes and why I walk each year.
I came back from a birthday party where I ate pizza, cake, ice cream and drank soda. When I came home I was not feeling well and threw up. My mom and dad thought it was the stuff I ate or a stomach virus.

I was getting sick and I was going to the bathroom a lot and drinking a lot of water. I was diagnosed with diabetes just before I turned 3. After I found out about diabetes I fell into a diabetic coma with a blood sugar of 1018.

I was taken to the intensive care unit where the doctors and nurses took good care of me. Sometimes it is hard living with diabetes because I have to check my blood sugar a lot. Sometimes I forget to check my sugar or forget to cover myself so my mom and dad are always checking on me. I have to be careful of highs and lows and have been as low as 25 and as high as over 600.

With my diabetes, I have made friends with other kids with diabetes such as Jack, Crystal, Kara, and Brenna. I have had diabetes now for 8 years and have been walking since 2006. My team, Autumn’s Antics, have raised $34,551.00. I thank everyone who supports me and I thank Breakthrough T1D for choosing me for the walk chair for Ocean County this year.

Even though diabetes is tough, I am tougher and I will not let diabetes stand in my way. Nobody should.

 

 

Wednesday July 16, 2014

Meet Gianna Brusca and her family.  They are this year’s Monmouth County Community Chair for the Jersey Shore Walk on Sunday October 19th.

Gianna’s Guardian Angels was formed in 2002, less than one year after Gianna Brusca was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in November 2001 at the age of two. Gianna, her dad Steve, her mom Erica, and her close family and friends started walking for the cure with fifteen walkers and over the last twelve years have developed into a team with over thirty walkers and supporters. Gianna’s Guardian Angels walk team has raised over $150,000 for the Breakthrough T1D.

Gianna never let diabetes stop her from accomplishing her goals. She was a little girl who loved dancing and she was passionate that her disease was not going to stop her from doing what she loved. So together, with her drive and determination and a lot of hard work, we made sure that this was a possibility for her. She began dancing competitively at the age of five for a local dance studio and continues to do that today. For the past 2 years, she has also danced on the Saint John Vianney H.S. varsity dance team. Gianna’s dance teams have always been supportive of her diabetes and they have as they have participated and danced at walk for many years.

While Gianna has had a lot of supporters over the many years since the team was formed, the dedication and financial support from a group of close family and friends has been the core of this team. They show up year after year, rain or shine, and support this cause. In addition, Gianna’s writing campaign reaches over 100 friends, relatives, and businesses that have supported and continue to provide donations for the walk each and every year. She lets everyone know each year how she doing, her big accomplishments for the year, and she lets them know where research has taken us and where we can expect the next breakthrough towards improving her life with diabetes and eventually finding a cure. From those early days of diagnosis, Gianna has been an advocate for the cause and has tried to raise awareness for Type 1 diabetes. Gianna’s parents have also been actively involved with the Breakthrough T1D since Gianna was diagnosed. Her mom Erica spent several years on the walk committee helping plan and set up the walks. While, her dad Steve has been on the Central Jersey Chapter board for 12 years and is currently the Government Team Chair helping to continue to promote and provide government advocacy for our chapter in the local districts. Both Erica and Steve are Breakthrough T1D mentors supporting families and individuals with TD1 especially the newly diagnosed.