CA

Ninjabetic

George Simmons of Ninjabetic
Type 1 Diabetes, October 1990

“Using honesty, humor, and truth, I share the entirety of my life with Diabetes to help others feel less isolated and alone.”

Ninjabetic

George Simmons is a husband and father living with Type 1 Diabetes. He was diagnosed over 20 years ago but only started taking his health and his disease seriously a little over 5 years ago. A self proclaimed “Ninjabetic,” George began blogging as a way to meet other people with Diabetes and share his experiences with others.

His personal blog serves as a place for George to express his frustrations, triumphs, and failures. In June 2006, George began insulin pump therapy that has helped lower his A1C and his overall management of his Diabetes.

He frequently uses his sense of humor as a tool to help not only himself but others through the mental struggle and strain that diabetes can create. Always known to wear his heart on his sleeve, this native Southern Californian loves to listen as much as he loves to talk. Being a “shoulder to lean on” for family, friends, and PWD’s is one of the things that brings him joy.

Filed Under: Members, Type 1 Diabetes Tagged With: blog, CA, USA, video

Insulindependence

Peter Nerothin of Insulindependence
Type 1 Diabetes, April 2001

“Insulindependence is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that inspires people with Diabetes to set personal fitness goals, educates them on adaptive management strategies through hands-on experience, and equips them to explore their individual capacities.”

Insulindependence

Estimated annual expenditures for Diabetes-related care are as high as $92 billion dollars in direct medical costs alone (CDC, 2008). This means that one in ten healthcare dollars spent in the U.S. can be attributed to Diabetes. With the rate of diagnosis increasing, this amount is expected to grow by more than $8 billion a year (ADA, 2008).

Insulindependence is addressing these issues and the quality of life of thousands of individuals by improving the health of the Diabetes community through its various recreation programs. Unlike any other organization of its kind, iD empowers people with Diabetes by surrounding them with peers and role models who share their condition, while teaching them the value of communication through positive and challenging experiences, and encouraging them to embrace self-management through active living.

Insulindependence changes lives by offering real-world experiences to help individuals with Diabetes overcome challenges and fears. Program participants gain enhanced self-images, fresh life-perspectives, enduring friendships, and deeper self-understandings that lead to improved self-management of their disease. Ultimately, this affords a higher quality of life to individuals and society as a whole.

Filed Under: LADA, Members, Parents of D-Kids, Sports, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes Tagged With: CA, community, fitness, nonprofit, USA

DiabetesMine

Amy Tenderich of DiabetesMine
Type 1.5 Diabetes (LADA), May 2003

“Type 1 journalist, author & advocate with a quirky personality. Amy’s editor-in-chief of DiabetesMine.com, sometimes called ‘The NY Times of Diabetes.”

DiabetesMine

Amy Tenderich is a journalist / patient blogger who started DiabetesMine.com after her diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes in 2003. Her site has become a leading online destination for people with Diabetes and one of the top health blogs around the country and the world. In 2006, she won the LillyforLife Achievement Award for Diabetes journalism from Eli Lilly & Company.

She is the co-author, along with Dr. Richard Jackson of Joslin Diabetes Center, of Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes – a unique motivational guide to the 5 key medial tests that everyone with Diabetes should have and monitor regularly.

Amy is also community manager of DiabeticConnect.com, the fastest-growing and most successful social networking site for people with Diabetes, with 400,000 registered members to date.

She recently joined DiabeticConnect’s parent company Alliance Health Networks, creators of social networks for people living with chronic conditions, as VP of Patient Advocacy. She’s totally passionate about patient empowerment, and has become a well-known advocate for all people
with Diabetes and all engaged “e-patients” everywhere.

Amy lives on the fringes of San Francisco, CA, with her husband, three daughters, and a calico cat.

Filed Under: LADA, Members, News & Analysis, Parents of D-Kids, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes, Women with Diabetes Tagged With: author, blog, CA, journalist, news, research, speaker, technology, USA

Diabetes Hands Foundation

Manny and Andreina of Diabetes Hands Foundation
Manny; Type 1 Diabetes, October 2002

“Connecting people touched by Diabetes, offering support and information and raising awareness through programs like Big Blue Test and No-Sugar Added Poetry.”

Diabetes Hands Foundation

The Diabetes Hands Foundation (DHF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that connects people touched by Diabetes and raises Diabetes awareness. Through its online communities (TuDiabetes.org in English, EsTuDiabetes.org in Spanish) and its other social media channels, DHF offers support and information to more than two hundred thousand people every month. Since 2008, DHF has developed pioneering Diabetes awareness programs such as Word In Your Hand™, Drawing Diabetes, No-Sugar Added Poetry, Making Sense of Diabetes and The Big Blue Test.