Four years ago, Kira Lue-Sang was six years old when her world changed. Her parents brought her to the doctor to find out why she was all of the sudden wetting the bed at night. She was quickly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Her mother Irene and father Ron had more questions than answers. Irene says, “It’s perplexing that a condition that’s so common, and so life threatening, gets so little air time. And it’s infuriating that there are so few answers to what seem like basic questions, such as: How did this happen? Will it get better? Will it get worse?”
Now ten years old, Kira is adapting and coping on a daily basis. Irene is still frustrated with the relentlessness of the disease. She says, “We may never know whether we did enough, or did the right thing, in taking care of her and teaching her how to live as a person with T1D.” The family decided to take action in another way, by forming a Breakthrough T1D One Walk team, “Type Run Diabetes”. For several years now, Kira, her parents, and her older sister Tyrine actively fundraise to support research for T1D.
“It’s just obvious to us that fundraising to help understand T1D is the only productive thing we can do. Fundraising is a necessity if we want to cure our daughter or make sure others aren’t burdened with the emotional, financial, and health cost that comes along with a T1D diagnosis. Supporting the Walk is natural for us,” says Irene.
The family works hard to meet their fundraising goal each year and is a top team at the Silicon Valley Walk, but they also have fun on the event day. “We enjoy the act of gathering for the Walk, knowing that we’ve done our fundraising, and feeling like we’re doing something instead of standing still. We also love the feeling of support from friends, family, and our community,” says Irene.
As with everyone who fights T1D every day, the family’s ultimate goal is to help find a cure. Irene says, “A cure would mean getting back a huge amount of time to spend with Kira. Right now we have to spend so much of that time on tasks related to T1D. That’s time that could be spent raising her, learning about her, helping her learn about herself, and getting back so much collective time.”
Join Type Run Diabetes at the Walk in Santa Clara, donate to the Walk, or find a Walk near you in the Bay Area this fall by visiting walk.jdrf.org today.
