Caden's Letter

Dear Family and Friends,
This is Caden and I am walking again this year in the JDRF “Walk to Cure Diabetes.” I am now 9 ½ years old which means I have had diabetes for about eight years of my life. I don’t remember life without diabetes but it seems like it would be fun to not have diabetes. None of my really close friends have diabetes so sometimes I wish I was like them. My friends are really nice about it and never make fun of me, but sometimes kids that don’t know me well stare or ask a lot of questions.

My mom calculated that I have pricked my fingers close to 20,000 times since I have been diagnosed. The tips of my fingers are bruised and I don’t have feeling in some of the tips from being pricked so many times. I wear an insulin pump and we have to change the site (a needle under the skin) every other day. So, my parents have put the needle in my skin about 600 times. I ice my skin for a long time so it’s numb before we put the needle in but sometimes it still hurts.

I am hoping to be cured soon, and my doctor said there is an “artificial pancreas” that is very close to being perfected. This would be a device just like my pump, except it would do everything for me without finger pricks! It would be like having a healthy pancreas but I just would be wearing on the outside of my body. My mom would really like me to have this before I go to college and I hope to go to Duke. I would like to play soccer and lacrosse there. Go Blue Devils!

I have an online JDRF fundraising page if you would like to donate to my walk team. My mom has posted it a few times on Face Book so if you already donated, THANK YOU! I am trying to raise $5000 this year and so far I have $2000 raised. My walk is on April 9th and I will walk with my family and also my lacrosse team, since my teammate has diabetes too.

My team page online: http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/Caden

Thank you to everyone who wants to help my team raise money to find a cure!!!

Love,
Caden