Archive for July, 2006
Children with Diabetes Conference
The conference was in Orlando at the Renaissance Resort, right across from Sea World. It ran from Wednesday to Saturday, with the last day at Sea World. We found out that our Sea World tickets are good for 7 days after you first use them, so we went down a day early and spent Tuesday at the park as well. We had a blast there. We met some new friends, we hung out while waiting for the Shamu show to start, and hit every show we could. And do you know how we know the kids had a good time? You could see it in their faces!
The actual conference was great, too. The first day was focus groups, which pretty much meant that the pharmaceutical and therapeutics companies were trying to get feedback from their customers. That night at the pool We were all swimming and I had my blue JDRF bracelet on, and a little girl said, “Hey, I have one of those, too!” So we introduced ourselves to her and her family. Rebecca and her sister Eliana and their parents are from Virginia, and Rebecca is the same age as Amber. The girls hit it off right away and we would up spending a lot of time with their family. They are very nice and we’ve exchanged info with them, hoping to keep in touch until we see them at next year’s conference.
The next two days consisted of sessions of various topics, the most interesting of which were a research update from a doctor at the NIH, information on carbs and preventing lows during sports and exercise, and sessions by a counselor from Animas who talked about how to talk to your child about diabetes. Amber was in a group of kids around her own age, so she got to play with Rebecca, Eliana, and they met another girl, Maya, who is from Vancouver. Here is a picture of the 4 of them! We got a lot of great information, met a lot of people, and had a lot of fun. Next year’s conference is at Disney!
Children with Diabetes Conference Pics
Here’s a few of the special pictures from the Children With Diabetes conference we attended in Orlando. There will be more.
| Chris Dudley (15 year NBA veteran): |
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| Gary Hall Jr (10 time Olympic medal winner in swimming): |
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| Jay Leeuwenburg (13 year NFL veteran): |
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| Kris Freeman (Olympic cross country skier): |
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| Nicole Baker Johnson #1 (Miss America 1999): |
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| Nicole Baker Johnson #2 (Miss America 1999): |
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| Phil Southerland (Champion bicycle racer): |
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| Will Cross (Mountain Climber): |
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| What do all these people have in common? They all have Type 1 diabetes. | |