We’re stronger together

      To say a lot has happened between September 24th, 2018 and November 3rd, 2024 would be a massive understatement.  As most of you who have visited this page, supported our son JT in so many ways, and walked alongside him know by now, September 24th, 2018 is the day that JT was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.  From that day until this one, our son JT has written his own story daily.  It is a story of remarkable resilience and fierce determination.  It is a story of independence and insistence on taking care of himself.  But it is also a story of an army of supporters like you helping him along the way.  It is a story of JT doing special things every day , like regulating his own blood sugar without any help at school.  It is also a story of the routine, like JT playing on his baseball and soccer teams, being a part of after school activities and altar serving at Mass.  Our son does all this and more every day without complaint.  If you'd like to hear more about what our JT does every day, please ask him on November 3rd.  We promise he will tell you ALL about it.

        This year will mark our fifth year walking.  The first year, our immediate family and a few friends (hi Marisa and Laura!) thought it would be fun to check out what was going on at Liberty State Park on a sunny November morning.  Since then,  JT's Team ABCDEF Diabetes has grown to an army of family, friends, classmates, teachers, teammates, coworkers and more.  To all of you who have been a part of JT's army in the past, we want to extend our most heartfelt thanks.  Your continuous, loyal, and generous support of our son has been overwhelming.  Please know our family keeps it in our hearts always.  To those of you who are seeing his story for the first time this year, please consider joining us on JT's day, if only for a nice walk.

     Last year was our first walk without JT's Nanny, one of his most dogged supporters in his fight against T1D.  Last year we walked for JT and for JT's Nanny.  The response we received from YOU was, to say the least, stunning.  This year we know Nanny is looking down with pride as JT and the rest of his family have been named the inaugural Honorary Family for our Breakthrough T1D Walk!  Since he received this honor, our little guy has been busy making videos and taking part in planning meetings in anticipation of our walk.  Some of the events you will see at the periphery of the walk may just be one of JT's ideas!  Our son was thrilled when he heard of his newfound title for this year's Breakthrough T1D walk but, much like he tackles his daily routine, he was much more excited to get to work making this his team's most successful walk to date.

      And this is where you come in.  We would like to thank you for taking the time to read a little bit about our son JT's story.  If you would like to see him write the next chapter, we ask you to come join us Sunday November 3rd in Liberty State Park.  We are eternally grateful for your support of JT over the previous walks and we humbly ask you to continue to help our hero in the search for a cure for T1D.  Whether you can or cannot contribute financially at this time, please consider joining us for the walk!  Thank you as always and we look forward to seeing you in November as we say ABCDEF Diabetes!