Children's Diabetes Foundation with Dana Davis and Sydney Lundgren

[00:00:00] Rob Howe: Hello listeners, what you're about to hear is an interview with Dana Davis and Sydney Lundgren from Children's Diabetes Foundation. And I'm going to use this as a chance to plug our upcoming Diabetes Legends Basketball Clinic in Denver, Colorado. It is 10 days from this recording, September 14th at the Basketball Social House in Centennial, Colorado. It's for ages 8 to 16. And there's also going to be an adults meetup after the clinic. So we're going to hang out at the basketball social house and that's available to all ages. So if you're interested in that, diabeticsdoingthings.com slash events, please come out and see us if you're in Colorado. And Children's Diabetes Foundation has become one of our great local partners in promoting the Diabetes Legends basketball clinics. If you've never been to Colorado or you're not aware of the Colorado diabetes community, it's one of the best in the country. And I'm fortunate to be a part of it. and they are super close knit and do a lot of really great things, not just clinically, but also community wise for kids and adults with diabetes. So if you're ever in the Colorado area, be sure to check out any ongoing diabetes events, camps, activities. They've got a lot going on there. So shout out to the Colorado diabetes community for always being so welcoming to Diabetics Doing Things. Check out the clinic at diabeticsdoingthings.com slash events. That'll take you to our Eventbrite page where we have the adult meetup and the basketball clinic there for registration. So with that, please enjoy this interview with Dana Davis and Sydney Lundgren from Children's Diabetes Foundation. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Diabetics Doing Things. We are telling the amazing stories of people with diabetes from all over the world. Very cool episode today with some very cool people who I've gotten the chance to meet in person and work alongside with and have become really our partners at Diabetics Doing Things. from the Children's Diabetes Foundation in Denver, Colorado. So my very special guest, Dana Davis and Sydney Lundgren. Listeners, you don't know what we've gone through behind the scenes to get this interview to you today. The three of us are navigating and euro-stepping all of the IT issues, but I'm so excited to have this conversation with two folks who have become extremely big collaborators and close friends of diabetics doing things. So Dana Davis, Sydney Lundgren, welcome to the show.

[00:02:19] Dana Davis: Thank you. We're so happy to be here.

[00:02:22] Rob Howe: And it's rare that we get to have the dual guests, but I've been working with you both so closely. And I think both of you, I think from different perspectives of diabetes community, really embody so much of the work that we're doing together. And I just felt right that we do it as the three of us. So I'm very excited. we're going to be publishing this just a couple of days before our round two in Denver, our third clinic overall of Diabetes Legends basketball clinic in Centennial, Colorado. But I want to kind of go back and start how we normally do with our diagnosis stories. And so Dana, I'd love to start with you, but I do want to give you both context. When I went to college in Colorado, I did a JDRF walk in Colorado Springs in 2007. And that was kind of my first JDRF walk experience. And the Colorado diabetes community is so close. And a big part of that, I think, is the Barbara Davis Center. And I want to talk leading into that, but also you guys working with the Breakthrough T1D now chapter in the Mountain West and Children's Diabetes Foundation. Everybody's so close. And I think it's really unique and really special what you guys have there in Colorado. So we're really proud to be bringing our clinic back this year and to have kind of that, you know, second home and diabetes community feeling from our side. So thank you guys so much for being a part of that. So let's talk about it. When, you know, hearing your diagnosis story, Dana, what was that like for you and your family?

[00:03:53] Dana Davis: Absolutely. Well, nobody in my family has type 1 diabetes. I was seven years old. I had just had the Hong Kong flu. the week before. And I really, really wanted to go trick-or-treating so badly. It was snowing and my dad drove me to two houses and I eventually was so sick that we couldn't go anymore. And the next morning, my mom took me to the doctors and I had recently lost like 10, 15 pounds. I was drinking a ton. I was seven, but I was starting to wet my bed again. And it ended up when I went to my pediatrician immediately, they said she has type 1 diabetes. And it was so, I think, incredibly shocking and hard for my family because they had no idea what that was. And so we went, it was my doctor, Dr. Amer took me over to Dr. Donu O'Brien. And I remember I had my first injection. It was beef insulin at the time and I was allergic to it. So I got to have pork the next day and there was no home blood testing. They kind of gave you one shot a day and sort of hope that you didn't die. Like, I don't know how else to explain it. Like it was just really, really crazy. And my parents in that, when we tried to find great care, which there is great care here now, but at the time, you know, it was few and far between and the place you went was Joslin Clinic. Right. That was it. That's where you went. So we flew to Boston and went to the Joslin Clinic and it was amazing. But my parents were like, well, what do people do who can't do this? What do we do about people who can't afford this? What do we, how do we take care of these people and how do we make it less clinical and how do we make it more about the family and the patient as a whole, like the whole family group. And that's where the Barbara Davis Center came from.

[00:06:00] Rob Howe: It's amazing. I think, you know, as a person with diabetes who started a podcast and kind of wanted to meet a need, I'm continually inspired by both parents and patients who see a gap or see a need that they want to be the change and fill. And I was very lucky even before I met the two of you, I got to go and tour the Barbara Davis Center in 2019 when I was in town for a type 1 nation summit. Now they're called community summits, but in Denver. And I got to tour with some pretty amazing people and see the work behind the scenes and hear about the research that they're doing and hearing about the impact. And, you know, it's really, you know, I think the question still that people have is very similar to what your parents have. What do people do who don't have access to this great care? I think there's a lot more options for great care now, but there's still people in rural areas. There's still people with language barriers, and there's still that need. And it's really cool to see the sort of ripple effects that the Barbara Davis Center is having, not just in Colorado, but throughout the country.

[00:07:06] Dana Davis: Thank you for saying that. I agree. I feel blessed that I get to carry on what my parents started and, you know, that this gets to be something I continue and help people. It's it's cool.

[00:07:17] Rob Howe: Well, I want to put a pin in that and come back to it because I really want to focus on a lot of the work that CDF is doing and that you both are doing. But Sydney, sorry, tough act to follow on Dana's diagnosis story. I do want to dig into like beef versus pork insulin and like what that was like. But for you, like, you know, joining the type 1 diabetes family, what do you remember about your diagnosis and kind of the early days of diabetes for you?

[00:07:42] Sydney Lundgren: Yeah, I don't remember a lot prior. I think a lot of people black it out when you're diagnosed. It can be a very traumatic time. I remember being in my primary care provider's office and there was a doctor and a nurse standing outside of the door. And I heard them arguing over who had to go in and give me the best bad news. So super fun. But I was very lucky because the Barbara Davis Center was already established and I was diagnosed. So they sent us right over. And as a kid, I always told people I'm going to diabetes school because I went for a couple of days and they taught me and my parents all the all the things we need to know for how to keep me healthy and how to keep me alive. That's my story.

[00:08:23] Rob Howe: That's incredible to be able to be like, what's it like for you to work with Dana and be able to send people to the Barbara Davis Center and have that be such a big part of your story? That's really cool. I didn't know. I didn't know that about you. That was a surprise for me. That's fun.

[00:08:38] Sydney Lundgren: Yeah, it was super special when I found this job because I was looking them up and I was looking through all the staff members of the Children's Diabetes Foundation. And I saw Dana and I was like, it said that she's the reason we have the Barbara Davis Center. And we talked on the phone before I came in for an interview. And I was like, I feel like I'm talking to a celebrity. Like, you're the reason this whole place is here. That's so awesome. So it's really rewarding for me. It's really full circle moment to come from a person who is diagnosed as type 1 and now getting to work with new families and families who've been in this community for a while. It's very rewarding.

[00:09:16] Rob Howe: I want to talk a little bit.

[00:09:18] Dana Davis: Sorry, I've just got to say, and Sydney really kills it. We're totally blessed to have somebody with that passion. And yeah.

[00:09:25] Rob Howe: Well, I can definitely vouch for that because I think I got introduced to Sydney last year, like, you know, a couple of weeks prior to our first clinic. And just the first of all, like you guys welcoming us and, you know, being so willing to be partners and then coming to the clinic and being part of our first Diabetes Legends Clinic will always mean a ton to me. So you guys are, you know, very, very special to me and to our team. I do want to talk a little bit about the differences, though, and like the measurable differences in your first weeks, months, years with diabetes because of, you know, the story that you shared, Dana, and your family and all the work that they did to advance that. So like for you, where there really wasn't a standard of care at that time, and you had to, you know, learn by trial by error, you know, beef insulin versus pork insulin to be able to hear the impact that you had for Sydney, but also that now, you know, children in the area can have to get access to the diabetes school because that doesn't happen for everybody. And that's such a leg up in a life with diabetes.

[00:10:27] Dana Davis: Like, how does that land for you? I mean, I think the thing sometimes I feel bad because I think, you know, there are some complications that I have and I don't want people to feel like they're going to have those now. So I feel like I'm kind of a cautionary tale almost like when I was diagnosed, you couldn't help. But, you know, our blood sugars were probably two and three hundred all the time and nobody knew. I think now what's amazing is that these families and parents to be able to provide them with like the comfort of knowing that their kids and their parents or whoever may be the person that they love that has type 1, that they can live a totally fulfilled life, that they're not going to have to deal with the complications that my mom used to run off and say and she'd be like close your ears but you know going blind or losing a limb or losing your you know your kidneys or you know I'm so happy that that's something that is sort of in the future for type ones and and that gives me such comfort and and care to know that but I always feel a little bad because I think parents sometimes look at me and you know I'm like we already got some complications but your kids aren't going to have that and I think the fact that I get to tell people this is the best time ever to be diagnosed because technology and everything else that we have now and the fact that all the technology that is, you know, being used right now and in the next five years has gone through the Barbara Davis Center for testing. Like, that's incredible. That's so cool. Well, I first of all, you know, just want to

[00:12:12] Rob Howe: applaud like the work that you guys have done and to make that true for people. And I, over the past year, I've kind of changed my, or become aware of the uncomfortable C-wear like complications, right? Because, you know, while, you know, there's a few things and we talked about this last year at the clinic, none of us are promised great days with diabetes. We're promised a lot of things, injections and testing and, you know, and always managing your blood sugar, but we're not promised great days. So anytime we get to have a great day, I really focus on like how important that is, because, you know, for kids at our clinics or even, you know, Sydney, you went to Connected in Motion recently, like you get to bond with other people and you get to kind of open up. And a lot of times like put to bed those rumors or those lies that maybe we told to ourselves early in our lives with diabetes where like, I can't do X, Y, Z, or this is not going to be true for me or, you know, in the older days, like you're not going to live past a certain young age or you're going to have horrible complications. But that C word complications, I'm trying to challenge the narrative on it a little bit because part of living a long life and a healthy life and an amazing life with diabetes means that we're subject to difficult things that are uncomfortable to talk about. Retinopathy, you know, amputations potentially, you know, difficulties and, you know, our bodies age. And that's part of that's part of the human experience. Like nobody makes it out alive. And when you think of all of the hard work that all of us have had to do, and in particular, people like yourself who've had diabetes for many, many years and have dealt with the complications of real obstacles or like not knowing anything about diabetes, like as a whole, as a society, and still getting to do and live a really fulfilled life and an impactful life. I just, I am less concerned with the complications that I know it's hard for parents. I don't have children yet. I hope to someday. And I know the idea that your child will suffer from something horrible like diabetes complications is really difficult. But I don't think that that, I don't want that to make their life seem less worthy of love and appreciation. We had a young man who came to one of our clinics, who's now one of my friends, who's a very young man and has suffered from really difficult diabetes complications early in his life. And I just love him no matter what. And I think like, that's, I want to give that to you as well as like, none of us make it out of here. We're not promised like to, to make it out with everything intact. And the, and I, and I hope that people listening or people who are struggling with, you know, the doctor telling them that they're having a little bit of complications or that they, you know, maybe didn't manage their blood sugars as well as they could in their teens. Because we all were like that, that there were, there were challenges that they don't take that as a personal like judgment. And it just is, I'm very fortunate. I live in an able body. Diabetes management really resonates with my psycho brain. And I'm just different. And I'm grateful for that. But it doesn't diminish the accomplishments and the value and the love that I have for people with diabetes who are living with complications. So I really am focused on saying the C word out loud and accepting that as part of us. And I hope that listeners of this will take that to heart as well.

[00:15:25] Dana Davis: Thank you. Absolutely. Appreciate that a lot. That brings me so much comfort. And I appreciate your perspective on that. And like I say, I don't have kids, but when I hear parents and they micromanage so much, and I know that's hard not to, but you feel like, oh my God, your child's gonna have like this fabulous life, this great life, and you've got to let them live it. Like we all deserve to live life. And I think I'm blessed because I have two people in our office that are type 1 and I have this little mini community that really supports me here. And I feel like, you know, there's no judgments among us, I should say. We're high, we're low, we're, you know, and there's, you know, it is what it is and we're frustrated and it's because it's Thursday or whatever it is.

[00:16:11] Rob Howe: And I think there's something really refreshing about being in a room where other alarms are going off and it's just normal. You know, I'll never forget the first time I was in a, like I was speaking at a JDRF event and JDRF's been a big supporter of mine and like put me in positions to meet other people and impact people with diabetes. And I just remember the first time I heard an alarm go off and something in the back of my head said, we should just all clap for this person. And it just became this kind of like really goofy thing that every time an alarm went off during that conference, everybody started clapping because we've all been there, felt really embarrassed or alone when we've got to test our sugar or we got to have an alarm or we have to jump up and chug a juice box like our life depends on it. And I don't know, I'd love Sydney for you and to share your perspective of working in in diabetes because we've talked to many people over the years on the podcast who live with diabetes, who volunteer in diabetes, who work professionally in diabetes. And sometimes it can be, you know, really burdensome. And other times it's really refreshing because you're able to rely on each other. So what's it like for you, like having a career in diabetes now?

[00:17:14] Sydney Lundgren: I think it is so rewarding. So much of just the little tips and tricks I've learned have been through our diabetes community. people who have tried stuff or who know of stuff that my doctor maybe didn't think to recommend to me but has really changed my life for the better and also just being around people who just get it it's like you don't get it unless you get it and as type ones we all know what it feels like to be 40 with two arrows down we all know the frustration when your sight or your pod bad fails and now you have ketones now you're 400 and another fun thing I think I just love being around this community is when you do get the beeping and the alarming everyone looks at their pump and they're like is that you is that me like who are you okay we all share low snacks I was at adult diabetes camp last weekend and we were all sitting around the campfire talking about the weirdest foods we've used as low snacks in the weirdest places so yeah people definitely have some funny stories that maybe wouldn't be funny to someone who doesn't live with type 1, but to us,

[00:18:21] Rob Howe: we can look back and laugh on it. Yeah, I think you said it well. If you get it, you get it. And, you know, it's maybe not funny for somebody to say, yeah, I've been scrambling through a hotel coffee bar to grab sugar packets at 3 a.m. But hey, I've been there. And, you know, I might be there again. You never know. We've talked a lot about you guys working together and we've got the Children's Diabetes Foundation logo in the background. Tell our listeners about CDF because we hear about some of the bigger nonprofits and a lot of us encounter some of those throughout our lives with diabetes. But if you're outside of Colorado, you may not have encountered you guys from time to time. So talk a lot about the work that you guys are doing and what gets you guys

[00:19:07] Dana Davis: out of bed every day. Okay. So my parents started the Children's Diabetes Foundation at the same time they started the Barbara Davis Center and we're the fundraising. And now, you know, we say fundraising, but we're really also the complete support for the Barbara Davis Center. If it's programs, if it's for patient care, if it's, it's kind of everything, we're sort of that glue for the Barbara Davis Center that we go over and help them. You know, we'll get a call that a family's having to decide between paying for insulin and their rent. Well, we get to help with that. We're really fortunate because the patients we serve, 35% of them are at or below poverty level and 45% are uninsured or underinsured. And we get to come in and help that community. We get to help the entire community. And Sydney is fabulous because she creates, you know, we do things like the camp, like basketball camp, you know, for these kids to get out and be around other kids. They're the same way. And parents to be able to be around other parents. And I think it's hard because we're called the Children's Diabetes Foundation. But, you know, the Barbara Davis Center treats literally zero to ninety nine. We have one patient who has been type 1 for seventy five years. She is the coolest, coolest person. And I think, you know, we're so excited that we get to support them. They get opportunities to do and be around other type 1 families. And, you know, there's grandparent classes. There's ways to support families that you don't think they need. And I think, you know, Sydney does such a great job. And I'll let her talk a little more about the programs that she helps with. I think what's really cool about the Children's Diabetes Foundation is we're able to bring in a lot of resources and support that I think a lot of other hospitals and other states just don't have access to. Like Dana kind of touched on, we have a Helping Hands and a Helping Little Hands program, which provides financial aid to pregnant mothers and also just any patient of the Barbara Davis Center. We do a diabetes day camp with Soccer City Aurora, where kiddos that have type 1 diabetes and their siblings can come in. We get medical professionals from the Barbara Davis Center. They come out. They take care of the kid's diabetes for the day. And for a lot of our families that come, it's the first time that the parent ever steps away from the kid and just let someone else take care of them, which I also don't have children yet. I can't imagine how overwhelming and how scary that is. but at that camp we also see kids just grow so much in their independence we have kids who will try their omnipod on a new location or they'll give themselves an injection by themselves we have even like little ones with the help of medical staff are learning about their pump and about carbs and also just making friends who like we said get it getting those type 1 buddies or diabetes as some people might call them seeing a lot of the staff a lot of the volunteers and almost all the kiddos have devices on their arms and they're not ostracized or they're not like pointed out because that because we all have them it's really rewarding and we also have a lot of events that just create community we do a halloween event every year for kiddos with type 1 which is super fun because it's not candy based. And well, as we all know, type ones and still eat candy. Sometimes maybe if you're taking your type 1 child to a Halloween party, that could be a little overwhelming. So our Halloween party is more focused on like games and fun and community. And then, you know, you have candy at night when you go home. But yeah, just a lot of, oh, and we also have support groups, virtual and in person. So we just have a lot of those resources that I think help grow community and just, you know, foster that sense of feeling safe, feeling like you're not doing this on your own. Well, you guys are doing... Sorry. No, go ahead. I was just going to say, we also like to partner, you know, you had mentioned, you know, other diabetes, you know, foundations and sort of, you know, people that help support. But, you know, we do partner with the ADA. We're going to be partnering with Girl Scout. We're partnering with as many people as we can find. You know, we've got a diabetes sangha that does meditation and teaches like we're just we love that there's all these different opportunities for type 1. So it's almost like we feel like it's that community that you don't want to be a part of. But once you are, you're like, we're so lucky. And I feel blessed that we get to do that.

[00:23:59] Rob Howe: Well, I, you know, again, we kind of got to, I think it was just fate and the right place at the right time and knowing the right people that we got to be part of that and hosting our clinic there. Because, you know, Sydney, what you were talking about earlier, about kids who, you know, parents who have done every injection for them, changed every Dexcom, changed every, you know, Omnipod, whatever. They go to diabetes camp at Camp Colorado with the ADA, which was the first diabetes camp that I ever got to go to. and I was already an adult. I was speaking, but I had never been to diabetes camp. And at the end of the first day, they were announcing all of the kids from the camp who had done their first site change or given their first injection or changed their first CGM. And the list was like crazy long. And all these kids were just like, you know, previously, you know, and one of the med staff was saying like, yeah, you know, these kids come in and they're like terrified to do their own injection. And by day two, they don't even know that person that they were the day, the first day they're like, They're given injections left and right because their friends are doing it and they feel accepted and they feel normalized. And I think that's what's so interesting to hear about all of the non-clinical, non-treatment things that you guys are addressing. You know diabetes affects so many parts of your life financially. So to know that there's a way for people who are struggling financially to afford the best diabetes care and get the best diabetes treatment options. you know it's diabetes is very difficult emotionally having support groups having friend groups getting to do different things like meditation like Peter I love Peter and Sam and Evan and like Sarah everybody involved in diabetes sangha or some of my closest diabetes friends can't say enough great things about them and so you know it's so interesting to see like you guys in the middle and really like interoperability like plugging people into these different places I think is really unique and really special and I'm just glad that we get to be part of it because you know, the people who, you know, I'm having conversations with people who are registering for our camp and, you know, their, their kids are, you know, the same kind of kids that I was, where I was maybe too cool to go to diabetes camp. I didn't really want to do that. And, but they'll go to basketball camp. So they're going to come, you know, they'll come around to that, you know, so we get, they get to meet great people like Gary Forbes who'll be at our camp again. And so I just think it's a really cool place for you guys to be. And you really understand it because you are the people that get it. It's for people like us. And I just love the opportunity to work with organizations run by people with diabetes who are making a change for other people. So big props to both of you guys for all the work that you and your team do in the community.

[00:26:34] Dana Davis: When we feel the same about you. I mean, when we first learned about you and what you're doing and getting to meet Gary and this, like your drive and your passion, like that's what drives us, you know, and here at CDF, that's what we're looking for. Then that's what we really want. And you guys, you want to see positive change and you want to give people that life that we all know we have. And you want to make sure everybody knows it. And that's just super cool.

[00:27:01] Rob Howe: Well, you know, it's so interesting how everybody's life with diabetes, you know, the symptoms are almost always the same, right? 90, 90% of us, you know, we're the three polys, We're losing weight. We're peeing. We got sick or whatever the case is, whether we have diabetes in our family or not. But the diagnosis experience is almost always different. And even today where, you know, we have rapid advances in health care all the time and diabetes technology. And like you said earlier, it really is the best time to live with diabetes right now. I believe that. It's not without challenges, but it's getting better. and sometimes though I think you may hear something or someone may say something or and it might even be totally untrue or like rooted in stigma or just like a mean thing because kids say mean things to each other teens say mean things to each other adults do as well but you may start to believe that and I think when you know for me being a kid 20 years old playing basketball in Colorado Springs and reading a story a little blurb in the Denver Post about Gary playing in the NBA with diabetes changed my life. And, you know, getting to be his friend and work with him and be able to be that for other people now, it just expands in your mind of the idea of what's possible for your life. And, you know, I think, you know, being able to have partners like you guys who are also committed to that, because I really think that there's somebody out there with diabetes who's going to bring some amazing thing to the world. And they just don't, they haven't found their people yet. No one's told them that they believe in them yet. And I want somebody like that to come through one of our camps and hear that their dream is still within reach and that their diabetes doesn't have to hold them back from living the life that they want to live. So I guess for you, as we kind of continue the interview and like, what do you guys wish, like as you talk to and interact with more people with diabetes than most who come on this podcast, right? Even though we're very plugged in the diabetes community. You guys are interacting with families new and old and new diagnoses or somebody that's lived with diabetes for 75 years. I feel like I maybe met that woman

[00:29:06] Dana Davis: when I was in, when I was at one of the events because she's awesome. She's a rock star.

[00:29:11] Rob Howe: She was just mind-blowingly funny and just, it's so great. So what do you wish that more people knew about diabetes or living with diabetes, like on the outside? Because there's still, as we talk about diabetes awareness, it's one-to-one. You know, some people know a ton about diabetes like us, and there's other people walking around that really don't have a single clue of what life is like with diabetes. So what do you wish more people knew?

[00:29:35] Dana Davis: I wish people knew that people with type 1 diabetes can do almost anything someone without diabetes can do. I always say you can do anything you want. It just takes a couple extra pokes and a little more planning. Well said. Yeah. And then I wish more people knew that it's not your fault if you were diagnosed, if your child was diagnosed as a parent, it's not your fault. And I think for me, it's also in the medical community is where I'm kind of surprised at times where I will go. I also have MS. And so when I go sometimes to the doctor and I'm not in a diabetes setting, they look at me and they'll be, you know, the first question is what's your A1C? It's always very judgmental. If you're going somewhere that's not diabetes related, then they'll always ask me, were you a fat child? They'll be like, you know, oh, you shouldn't eat that. Or I might come in and I have a mini like Coke because I'm low. And they'll be like, well, you shouldn't be drinking that. And I think my frustration comes a little bit in the medical community, if they're not diabetes related, their knowledge is sometimes lacking. And I really wish there was something we could do in other medical facilities to kind of increase that awareness of what type 1 is about. We, I was actually watching a clip recently from,

[00:31:02] Rob Howe: and we're going to air it on our social media here soon, Jeremy Robertson, who is a close friend and is a pilot with type 1 diabetes. And when he was diagnosed, he got his wings taken away. And so he went to medical school because he's a rock star of a human and just is capable of doing that. And he was saying that that was in medical school. You know, if you're outside your focus, you kind of don't really learn, you know, maybe one day or a couple hours on a particular, you know, you know, disease like diabetes. And he was like, so I used my diabetes as a way to educate my medical school classmates on what life with diabetes was really like, because they just didn't get, you know, a really, a really good understanding of that. And I think especially like when we talk about all the different things that diabetes, you know, affects Sydney, you're right. It just takes a few extra pokes and a little planning. But I heard recently, we had a guest on the podcast talk about the, the average person has between like 40 and 60,000 thoughts a day. So like you're seeing, you know, really even things from like open the door or that, that picture is green or whatever it is. And people with diabetes have double that. So just when you think of the information that we're processing all the time, like living and thinking like, like a pancreas, we're doing a lot. We're doing a lot. Absolutely. And do you think like, as you're, as we kind of come to the final part of the interview, like as you are working with your families and your teens and adults and kids with diabetes, do you ever like have moments where you think about like what you would tell your younger self with diabetes? Like what? And like, is that something like, you know, being the change for yourself or that's something that really motivates me? Like what would have made a big difference to me at 16 sitting in that hospital bed or going to school with diabetes for the first time? Like what What comes up for you guys?

[00:32:53] Dana Davis: Gosh, I think for me, a little more background. When I was diagnosed, I was in complete denial. I was not testing. I was, we had used to have to write in those logbooks. I would lie. My, I'm like, my blood sugar is 100. Why is your A1C12?

[00:33:08] Rob Howe: I know, I know there's a lot of listeners who also lied in their logbooks and I'm guilty of that as well. So I just want to normalize that we all lied in the logbooks.

[00:33:19] Dana Davis: i gosh i think i would have just told myself to just embrace it and not be so afraid of it and so embarrassed i you know people that you interact with are different but i have found the majority of people want to know more want to help you in a non-judgmental way There's caveats to that, of course. But I think mine would have been to just be more open. Yeah. Yeah. And I need to second that. I was very angry. I wasn't in denial. I was just really pissed off, to be honest. And I didn't take the best care of myself. And you know what? It was very public. I maybe wasn't prepared to have my personal life so public. and I probably acted out a lot more than I should have. And by the time I was 25, I almost lost my eyesight. So I would have told my younger self that it's okay maybe to not be so angry and similar to Sydney, embarrassed and embraced it a bit more. And I'm happy that it can be a positive thing now for people. I think being diagnosed with diabetes is overwhelming and it's scary and it can be traumatic in a lot of ways. And I think something else I would tell any newly diagnosed family is just that it's okay to grieve. It's okay to feel emotions. And it's okay to get, like, I'm going to admit every six months, I probably have a pity party, you know, and that's okay. You know, there's going to be highs and lows and it's okay to be upset and angry at it. And then you get through it and that's, that's life, you know, it's okay to be mad at it, but then you can pull through and move forward and be lifted up.

[00:35:11] Rob Howe: Yeah, talk about it because while we can do everything and it's all possible, it doesn't mean it's easy. It doesn't mean every day is going to be great. And I think having a space to have your feelings is also really key because I think a lot of people are walking through their life with diabetes very isolated and that burden can get really heavy when you're alone. And you guys know, like the power of community and the power of even in your work life, you know, being able to share low snacks with somebody because there's somebody out there who had to go home because there's no low snacks that they're at their office and they felt shame or embarrassed to tell their coworkers. And so, you know, that's another thing I've been really challenging myself this year to continue to try to do hard things and not to back down from them. And I think that, you know, there's, there's science about the resilience that we build up from not unlike strength training, right, where you start to, you start to get stronger and your, your will starts to also get stronger and you, and you remind yourself that you have overcome these big obstacles and you've done these hard things before. And so when you have those low days, I think, first of all, reach out and connect with a friend. I mean, a friend with diabetes is a friend indeed always. But just remind that you've been, you existed on pig insulin, you know, you and, you know, we've, we've been on hikes where we had to suspend our pump or we had to, you know, hustle back to the, to the car a little bit to, to get our stuff or to inject our glucagon and keep moving or whatever the case may be. And I think that's what kind of goes unnoticed sometimes when we don't talk about it. We don't talk about how the moments are hard or the burden is heavy because we feel embarrassed or we feel like people don't care. And I think that what this effort over the past almost nine years has taught me is there are there's somebody out there who will listen. And there's someone out there who will really resonate with, you know, with Dana Davis, who the Barbara Davis Center was was founded because still has days where she feels low with diabetes. And that is really important to hear.

[00:37:15] Dana Davis: Yeah, no. And knowing like sometimes you can't drive somewhere because you're too low and then you got to call people and you like your plans change or just, you know, this just things you don't think about that change your whole day.

[00:37:29] Rob Howe: Yeah, they say it takes like on average, like 45 minutes to recover from a low. And, you know, I used to beat myself up if I couldn't just hop right back in and do the thing. You know, so I think it's just it's really important to continue to talk about those things and continue to normalize them. So, you know, thank you both for doing that. I mean, we have really overcome some big time tech barriers today, some big time technical difficulties on both sides. But that's what we do. We just keep going. We just keep we fill the space. And so I guess that's kind of as we close for people who want to learn more or get involved with CDF, where should we direct them?

[00:38:07] Dana Davis: Yeah, so we're the Children's Diabetes Foundation. If you want to look us up on any of our socials, we're at CDF Diabetes. And do you want me to pull up our website? Well, yeah, I mean, I can, I can. Sorry.

[00:38:25] Rob Howe: I'll plug the website in the show notes. So that's easy for me to do. So we have all the resources for you there. And it sounds like anybody, young, young adults, young or old, they are welcome at the Children's Diabetes Foundation.

[00:38:38] Dana Davis: Absolutely. A hundred percent.

[00:38:40] Rob Howe: Well, I cannot wait to see you guys here in two weeks for round two of Diabetes Legends Basketball Clinic. I've got t-shirts for you both. I'm really excited for a great Saturday in the Denver Diabetes community. And we're adding the adults portion to our clinic. It's not going to be a skills clinic, but we're going to have some fun at the Basketball Social House. So I hope to see everybody else in the Denver area. Got some longtime diabetes friends and some longtime just good old life friends who are going to be joining us as well. So very excited to come back to Colorado.

[00:39:12] Dana Davis: Very cool. We can't wait. We're really excited.

[00:39:15] Rob Howe: All right. Thank you guys for the time.

[00:39:18] Dana Davis: Thank you. Thank you, Rob. This has been great.