Giving Back

One of the positives that has come out of our last 11 months of dealing with diabetes has been the opportunity for Heath and I to give back to the diabetes community and strive for "the cure", which is now clear that we will see in Chance's lifetime. Yesterday, Heath and I were the family keynote speakers for the 2010 JDRF Triangle Chapter Walk Luncheon. We were asked to speak for 5-7 minutes to a group of about 350 people. Our dear friend Andy (Oskar's Mom) gave the research update in which she said "this is not a walk for a cure, it is a race for the finishline" - we are getting that close!


Heath and I did a tag team approach and decided to focus on the positives rather than the obvious negatives. I spoke about the past 11 months and the fact that we are approaching Chance's 1 year anniversary of being diagnosed, Heath spoke about the positives diabetes has brought into our lives, I spoke about how well Chance is doing almost a year into this, Heath spoke about how excited we are about all the research, and we wrapped up that we are hopeful for Chance's future that he will be free of this disease one day.

Of course, I got choked up when I first started talking. We projected a photo taken on our last vacation before Chance was diagnosed last August in the Smokey Mts. Photos of Chance pre-diabetes will forever bring tears to my eyes. I rehearsed without the photos and did not break down, but when I started to talk and looked at Chance's face, I could not help but fight back my tears. I did recover and was able to continue our talk. We also showed 2 recent photos to show how big he has gotten, and of course I didn't forget to mention Tas.

Afterward, several people came up to us to offer words of support and hope. Below is the note that JDRF sent to us yesterday afternoon. Short and sweet, this note meant more to us than Kelly could have known.

From: Fleming, Kelly [mailto:kfleming@jdrf.org]

Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 3:12 PM
To: Suzanne Clayton; Heath Clayton
Cc: Burleson, Lester

Subject: Thank You

Hi Heath and Suzanne,

Thank you very much for sharing your personal story with us today. Without question, this was a highlight of the program.

If I don’t talk to you before the holiday weekend ~ please have a great one and we will be sure to be in touch soon.
Talk soon,

Kelly