I Wish It Were Three Years From Now...

Time flies.  My kids are growing up too fast.  I never wish time away...

Well, almost never.  Ally had a rough diabetes day yesterday.  Her CGM was reading above 400 and finger stick showed a blood sugar of near 400.  She had been swimming (on and off of her pump for a few hours), and her pump site came loose.  Tears, tears and more tears.  She was hungry and couldn't eat anything until we could get her blood sugar to come down a bit.  She had just a few minutes to get herself ready for cheerleading practice, where she would be helping to coach the younger peewee cheerleaders.  She couldn't find her shoes.  She couldn't find her bag.  She didn't like the way I had put the bow in her hair.  Tears, tears and more tears.  Finally in the car on our way to cheer (a few minutes late now) and she said, "I don't think I can even remember the cheers right now!"  Tears!  I am feeling so bad for her because I know that a blood sugar of almost 400 is making her feel really terrible.  These are such helpless moments for me because all I can do is give more insulin and wait it out with her, but I can't make her feel better.  We are almost to the park and she says (in a tween sort of huff), "I JUST WISH IT WERE 3 YEARS FROM NOW!"  I looked at her kind of puzzled.  She continued, "Because then I would have a bionic pancreas and I wouldn't be 400!"  And I suddenly wished the time away too.  I wish we could fast forward to a time when she would not have to worry about her diabetes.

Our hope for a better quality of life for Ally has been re-energized by the Bionic Pancreas.  Seeing first hand that the Bionic Pancreas could give her better blood glucose control with very little effort has made us wish the next few years away.  We simply cannot wait for the bionic pancreas to become a reality for Ally and all those living with type 1 diabetes.

I know that some people really believe in only supporting research towards a biological cure for type 1 diabetes.  Our family has always, and will continue to, support research towards a cure.  But, we believe whole-heartedly that we must support this type of technology that will ensure a better life for those who are living with type 1 diabetes.  Until there is a cure, we are still managing the ups and downs of diabetes 24/7.  Until there is a cure, Ally is at risk every single day of having a severe hypoglycemic event.  Until there is a cure, every day is adding to the risk of her developing long term health complications.

The Bionic Pancreas is not a biological cure for Ally's diabetes. However, we believe that it will be the best tool for managing her diabetes...until there is a cure.

We know that in order for this technology to become a reality, we must support the efforts of the researchers in any way that we can.  We have decided to take The Bionic Challenge!  This is what the Bionic Challenge is:

We are asking for the assistance of the T1D community to raise the funds needed to build the integrated bihormonal bionic pancreas platform that will be used in our final pivotal study of 2016.

The Bionic Challenge (which officially launched on July 3, 2014 at the Children with Diabetes Friends for Life Conference in Orlando) asks each participant to raise $5,000 by September 1, 2014. If each participant can turn to their friends and relatives and obtain 50 $100 donations, we can continue our development effort and keep on schedule for our final pivotal study in 2016.

We have just two weeks left to meet this goal!  If you would like to make a donation to help build the final bionic pancreas, please click the link here to find out more about how you can donate.
Credit card donations can be made directly to Boston University here: https://www.bu.edu/alumni-forms/forms/eng/damiano/.  Please reference Team Ally - Ohio if you make an online donation.  If you'd like to make a donation in another form, please contact me at BoxOfChocolates@hotmail.com.

Thank you so much for your support!  Go Bionic!

This post is part of a series documenting Ally's experience as a participant in The 2014 Bionic Pancreas Camp Study.  

READ MORE:

UNTIL THERE IS A CURE

3..2..1..GO BIONIC!

MY HEART SWELLS

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

BIONIC: SUPERHUMAN? NAH, JUST SUPERHERO!

TODAY I REJOICE!

AFTER THE BIONIC PANCREAS