In the United States, 40 kids are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each day. The children of Grace Place Preschool, Pastor David Jones and church members of Lord of Life Lutheran Church are doing their part to help spread awareness and find a cure for T1D, and would love the community’s help.
Grace Place Preschool is hosting a JDRF Kids Walk to Cure Diabetes on Nov. 15 at 9:30 a.m., raising money for diabetes research. The walk will take place around the parking lot or playground with students, parents and members of the church and community. The community is asked to help by participating or making a donation.
“This is a great cause. It helps so many people… (People should attend to) educate themselves about T1D and help a wonderful cause. There are a lot of children and adults depending on a cure,” Deborah DeMarco, Grace Place Preschool director, said.
DeMarco is passionate about finding a cure as a mother of a child diagnosed with T1D. Her daughter Deanna was diagnosed in 2013 as a freshman in high school, after several weeks of her being extremely sick and misdiagnosed. Her daughter was brought into the hospital almost in a coma with her blood sugar at 850. Normal blood sugar levels should be 80–130 before a meal and not exceed 180 after a meal.
“I have learned since my daughter’s diagnosis that many parents are unaware of the warning signs of T1D, and sometimes the diagnosis comes too late. If I can prevent just one family from suffering the loss of a child by educating them about those warning signs, then my work is worth every minute,” DeMarco said. “I will continue to fight until we ‘turn type 1 into type none.”
Since her daughter’s diagnosis, DeMarco has worked to arrange JDRF walks to spread awareness of the autoimmune disease and to find a cure. JDRF, originally named the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, is the leading global organization funding T1D research. Since T1D can be diagnosed at any age, the organization chose to drop the juvenile diabetes title and remain JDRF. JDRF’s funding has proven fruitful, as it has helped to achieve a major breakthrough with the FDA’s approval of the Medtronic MiniMed 670G “artificial pancreas” system on Sept. 28. The system is the first approved to automate the dosing of insulin to reduce high blood sugar levels.
“This could be the critical step needed to finding a way to control diabetes, and possibly even cure it. That is why I continue to participate in the JDRF walks,” DeMarco said. “Every dollar counts and brings us closer to a cure.”
The JDRF Kids Walk to Cure Diabetes gets the children of Grace Place Preschool involved and learning about the disease as well as giving back. DeMarco feels it is important to teach about giving at a young age as they learn helping those who are ill, less fortunate, and giving back to your community can do good for the world.
After the walk, the Grace Place Preschool and church will present the donations to JDRF. There will be balloons, banners, food and face painting afterward in celebration.
This is the second JDRF walk DeMarco has helped to organize, the first raising $3,000. DeMarco said she hopes to achieve that amount, but any funding raised would help.
“I’m hoping if we get enough people in the community and families involved, we (could beat that number). But any amount of money we raise is great; whether it is $5 or $5,000, every little bit helps,” DeMarco said.
Grace Place Preschool and the church members of Lord of Life Lutheran Church are working to raise money for JDRF.
The school is selling paper sneakers for people to write their names on and hang at the school. Through the encouragement of Jones, members of the church are also collecting money for the event.
For any members of the community who would like to help out and donate, the Grace Place Preschool has an online donation page at www.jdrf.org/site/TR/KidsWalk/SouthJerseyChapter4396?team_id=223990&pg=team&fr_id=6568. They may also come to participate in the walk, but are asked to give notice to DeMarco.
To learn more about the walk or to ask questions, call Demarco at (609) 268–2756. Grace Place Preschool is located at 1 Winchester Court in Tabernacle.
