Spare a Rose: inspiring Valentine campaign for kids who need insulin

I don’t often ask for donations here, but I’ve recently been getting more educated about the world of diabetes, and this campaign especially inspires me. So please click to donate, as I’m doing today.

You may recall that in December, my SuperPatient event at Brown University featured Kerri Morrone Sparling, the local diabetes blogger known on social media as @SixUntilMe.  I love everything about her approach, from her self-image (“Diabetes doesn’t define me, but it helps explain me”) to her wonderfully expressive writing to her advocacy for others.

This is one example. It’s Valentine season, and Partnering for Diabetes Change coalition is running a “Spare A Rose” campaign.  The idea is that on Valentine’s Day (or any day), you buy one less rose, and give the money instead to help kids with diabetes who can’t afford either the tests strips to monitor their condition, or the insulin they need.

I was disturbed, and got educated, when I read last weekend what it’s like when someone like Kerri has their blood sugar get so elevated. Feed your head with her posts:

• Syrupy Thick – last Thursday – on a train to New York, despite generally being well managed, she went very high. It was debilitating.
  • Read and learn what “syrupy” describes.
  • Note Kerri’s attitude: “I need to own it, because there are things I could have done differently for a better outcome.” (Are you that way about every health situation that hits you, including your weight, exercise, diet, blood pressure, pills, everything? Welcome to the world of a serious chronic condition.)
• What a High Blood Sugar Feels Like – Kerri’s post Nov.2013
• Her friend Sara’s post on what a high feels like (last Weds).

(See also my comment added below, with more details from Kerri.)

It’s probably because I’m now a grandparent, but the thought of kids being vulnerable to these circumstances pulls at me especially. On the Spare A Rose donate page you can select a one-time gift or a monthly one. (That’s what I’m choosing.) And on their site you can learn more.

Thanks.

(And yes, all of this is making me increasingly aware of the situation of all people with chronic conditions and all kids who have serious trouble. We’re all in this together, folks – as I’ve always said in my speeches, “Patient is not a third person word. Your time will come.)