Inspired by a community of support

What's your name?
Jeffrey

What's your inspiration?
Inspiration is an interesting word. What truly inspires us… Some would say that inspiration is the act which causes our mind to reach unusual activity or creativity. While I am very interested in a cure I know now that my diabetes has had a profound impact on my life and in choices I make. Because of diabetes I have reach out to hundreds of lives and hopefully assisted them through hard times.

Throughout my life I have had many experiences that assisted me in “getting back on track” when I fall off the wagon. I have been a Type 1 Diabetic for over 15 years now and continue to struggle with it daily. Most recently, what has truly inspired me was an invitation to go back to a diabetes camp in Nevada as a counselor. The first thought was do I really want to spend a week of my vacation going to this camp for kids… I am truly blessed and happen to have more then enough vacation so I decided sure why not go.

I found a community of support. People who had experiences the same as mine and could assist me in challenges I was going through while at the same time I was able to assist them with challenges they are going through. It is this collaboration of ideas, methodologies, and systems which produces individuals who can manage their chronic illness.

Then there was after… When I say after I am talking after camp and I found I did not have the support group I just had. I became more active in looking for a support group here in Utah. What I did find was education groups, educators, doctors, and so on. All of which are amazing in their own right but really did not help me find the same sense of community. So I went back for a different weeklong camp and then another. I have been to 4 camps in the past year and they are amazing. To help me fill my time I have been going to support groups and noticed they were doing the same education that I have received for the past 15 years. Not to say new advancements in technology are not brought up, because they are, but it is the same type of stuff.

Another Diabetic and I have been talking after the classes and decided we wanted to have a group for Type 1 Diabetics for a few reasons. The first being it does not exist. The second is we want a group which is activity based. We believe through the activities will allow people to open up become friends and then more comfortable to talk about what is really going on in their lives. We are at the beginning stages of creating the new “Injection Connection” for teens and adults. I am hoping we can include the true design of this new group here once it is more formalized.

What's one lesson you want people to learn about diabetes?
So what does all of this mean? Well I have found the more active I am in the community the more I actually care about being a good example, helping others, and taking care of myself. It is when we act as a group we have more power than one can imagine. I would like to end my long winded post with the following… In managing any chronic illness (for me Diabetes) Henry Ford was correct when he said “if you think you can then you can. If you think you cannot then you can’t. In either case you are correct”. Lets all think we can and together we can live a healthier life while we look for a cure!

If you have type 1 diabetes and want to assist in the creation of the Injection Connection, have ideas for activities, want to join once it is more formalized please feel free to reach me at jeffrey.r.r.rands@xo.com or 801-928-9070 (txt ok).