The Breakthrough T1D One Walk Ambassador is the face of our walk events. Each year, an Ambassador is selected to help connect the community at-large with Breakthrough T1D by sharing their personal T1D journey with chapter members, press and corporate partners during One Walk season.

As a passionate, engaged participant of the One Walk program, our Ambassador is selected for their continued commitment to fundraising and Breakthrough T1D’s mission.

We’re excited and proud to announce that David and Lauren Corsaro are this year’s One Walk Ambassadors!

Why do we walk? We walk because of a memory. We may never lose the memory of sitting in a hospital room when the doctor told us that our 15-month-old son Matthew, a baby with his entire life in front of him full of open possibilities, had type 1 diabetes. We were told he would spend the rest of his life monitoring his blood sugar, receiving insulin and being very aware of things that many of us never have to think about like his glucose level and beta cells in his pancreas.

During the middle of April 2011, we noticed that Matthew was waking up from naps with a very wet diaper. He was also drinking water at an alarmingly fast rate. Lauren, with her incredible combination of training as a pediatric nurse and motherly instincts, knew something was wrong and tested his urine.  When the stick came back indicating a high level of ketones and glucose, we headed to the emergency room. They tested Matthew’s blood and gave us the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.

As a parent, they say there is nothing worse than seeing your child in pain. There is. When you, as a parent, must inject your 15-month-old son with a needle to administer insulin and he cries, that’s worse. It is very hard to get over the emotional mountain and deal with the fact that our son has a disease that will never go away. It is tough to think about the fact that monitoring his blood sugar, measuring his food and administrating insulin are all activities that he will do tomorrow, his first day of high school, and for the rest of his life.

When we were put in touch with the Breakthrough T1D, it was an awakening. We met people going through the same roller coaster of emotions that we were. We met people who told us “we understand” in a way that our family and friends could not. The road also travels both ways. We have been fortunate enough to speak to parents of a newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic and look into their eyes. We have been able to provide a comforting word or hug to someone who felt the same way we did after diagnosis.

Within one month of Matthew’s getting type 1, we signed up for the Breakthrough T1D One Walk for the following October. Instead of feeling helpless because there is no cure, we looked at it as discovering a new cause that we had to fight for. It was something that was within our control to help make his life better. Since then, we have worked closely with the Breakthrough T1D to organize a Kids Walk at Matthew’s elementary school (where there is a second student with type 1 diabetes, Isa.)

So why do we walk with the Breakthrough T1D? Because of a memory. A memory of the entire elementary school cheering for Matthew as their Kids Walk began. A memory of Matthew standing on stage at the Breakthrough T1D One Walk at Liberty State Park in Jersey City and seeing him take the microphone and count down to start the event. But most of all, we walk because of the memory of Matthew saying, “I wish I did not have diabetes,” and knowing that the research funded by the Breakthrough T1D will improve his way of life and take us a step closer to his wish of finding a cure.

Please come join Matthew and thousands of other people at Breakthrough T1D One Walk this October and start creating your own memories.

David and Lauren Corsaro
2018 One Walk Ambassadors
Outreach Volunteer