Alyssa Downing, age 15

I am a normal 15 year old teenager. I love to dance and hang out with my friends. I babysit, I go to school, sleepovers, and camp. I love shopping, swimming, parties, movies, reading, and music. I work out at the Y, and I have juvenile diabetes. So, I test, count carbs, take insulin, wear a pump, carry my kit, and watch for highs and lows. I hope that someday there will be a cure for my diabetes, but for now, I live with it and take care of it. And even though I have diabetes, my life is good and I am happy. I want to thank Art of the Cure for Juvenile Diabetes and everyone who supports this organization.

Jim Downing, proud Dad to Alyssa

When my daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 5 years ago, I was blissfully ignorant about this disease and its life-altering impact. Nothing prepares you as a parent to watch your child give herself life sustaining insulin injections daily and monitor every morsel of food that enters her mouth during what should be her carefree childhood. I am so grateful to Art of the Cure and all of its generous donors for bringing us closer to a cure through research.

Shaelyn Sibley, age 9

I was five when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It was the day my life changed. I was very sick and was rushed to the emergency room. No one knew what was going on.  It took the doctors over 5 hours to figure out what was wrong with me. My life has been up and down ever since that day. I am happy and sad, but I want you to know that I am NOT a couch potato. I can do anything as long as I keep testing. I am athletic and take karate. Do me a favor, be kind to anyone who has type 1 diabetes, because if you know my story, you know what other kids with diabetes go through.  I hope there will be a cure sometime soon. This will be the day my life changes again.

Shaelyn's Dad, Robert Sibley

On January 6, 2006 my daughter Shaelyn was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I could see in her eyes that this wasn't going to be one of those sicknesses that would be gone in 2 or 3 days. I felt helpless. My wife and I soon learned that diabetes was an extremely tough and challenging disease. Big sacrifices had to be made to ensure that Shae would be able to live a long and healthy life.To this end, we live our lives on a schedule. We don't live day to day, we live hour to hour.  Shae asked me once why she got "stuck" with diabetes.  I told her it was because God thought she was tough enough to handle it. This is a badge she wears proudly. She likes to say that I have type 3 diabetes. She explained that this is "what someone who cares for a child with type 1 has". This is my badge. One day there will be a cure for juvenile diabetes. My hope is that this will happen in Shae's lifetime.

My Story, Nairi Brown, age 12

Diabetes is like a book report. Things go right, things go wrong, and things make you want to forget about the whole thing. But, the thing about a book report is that when it gets frustrating, you can just walk away from it all. I can't walk away from diabetes. I couldn't if I tried. It's like walking away from my life. Every morning I wake up and test. I get to school, go to my first period classes, and test, I go to lunch, and test. I go to last period, and test. I get home, and test. I have dinner, and test. I go to bed, and test. Not to mention any time I feel low. When you have diabetes, everything isn't as simple as it used to be. For example, I can't just eat, I have to test and count the carbs. I can't just dive into a pool, I have to test and take off my pump. I can't just go play my soccer game; I have to test and take off my pump again. You see, I feel like I am adding pages to this book report, but nothing ever gets finished. Can you help me ace this project, and cure diabetes?

Lynn Brown, Nairi and Matthew's Mom

As the mother of two children living with type 1 diabetes, it would be easy to get caught up in self pity and ask "why my kids"? After all, having the disease strike one of your children is traumatic enough, but to claim my second child three years later, was downright cruel. That being said, we are considered to be one of the "lucky" families in that both Matthew and Nairi are considered to be in excellent control. We realize how fortunate we are to have the best diabetes care in the country with Joslin Clinic right in our own backyard. However, sometimes our children do not feel so lucky. What the outside world does not see, is the burden they carry 24/7 to stay in good control. There is never a vacation from testing, monitoring, counting carbs, worrying about lows, and of course their long term health. Waiting on a cure six years later has become daunting, so we don't live in that world anymore. We just live.