On May 19th, Idahoans will walk for a cure to Type One diabetes.
And tonight, we have proof that all the fundraising effort over the years is paying off.
The cure may be elusive, but technology is finding a way to make lives much easier for those suffering from type one
Eleven-year-old Brooke Hallingshead is part of the one and a quarter million people in the US with type one diabetes.
That's why she's so thankful for this device.
It helps hide the outward signs of diabetes, namely checking blood sugar levels multiple times a day.
"It's way better." says Brooke, "Because it alerts me when I go low and buzzes when i don't hear them."
This is a closed loop insulin delivery system, and it's very new.
It uses a glucose monitor in the skin to monitor blood sugar levels and automatically delivers proper doses of insulin for as long as three days at a time.
"It takes what is happening in current time and administers insulin and creates a regimen based on how she's responding right now." says Brooke's mom Megan Hallingshead, "So, if it sees she's a bit high at night it gives more insulin. And if she's too low, it stops giving insulin and alerts us."
It's this kind of technology that is only possible thanks to the determined efforts of engineers, scientists and most importantly, fundraisers.
"This is why we walk. We walk on May 19th to find a cure for type one diabetes. And whether it happens in her lifetime or not, I'd like to see the disease cured so no other parent has to hear those words that your child has type one diabetes," says Megan.
The Meridian Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk is May 19th at Kleiner Park.
Go to walk.jdrf.org to sign up or donate to someone's team.
They need as many pledges as possible to reach a goal of 207 thousand dollars.
The closed-loop insulin system is a minor miracle.
Now they need to get the big one and find a cure.
Again, go to walk.jdrf.org to sign up or donate.
