Here's a letter from one of my far away friends that I haven't seen since 1998 but feel so strongly in my heart. Shannon continues to share her life with me through pictures and updates. When I get an email -I feel like I am right there with her. I want to share her family's personal story and bring some light to something that touches so many families and children every day.

Hi all! To those of you who know our son Parker’s story and have supported us and walked with us over the past 4 years –THANK YOU! We hope that you will forward this to anyone and everyone and let this letter be heard- and help find a CURE! Our letter this year is intended to inform those who don’t know about Parker and type 1 diabetes, as well as bringing as many people as we can to walk and support us. As many of you know, our little guy Parker is almost 6 years old with type 1 diabetes and has been a type 1 diabetic since the young age of 15 months. Parker is insulin controlled and given several shots daily as well as several finger pricks a day. We have to watch Parker’s food intake and exercise every second of the day. This has become much more challenging for us now that Parker is in school all day long in the 1st grade. We do not have a full time nurse at school so you can imagine the struggles much less the stress we go through everyday. We have had to educate his Teacher (which she is awesome), but she is still very fearful of what can happen to him being under her care. Lunch time is our biggest struggle just making sure he is watched like a hawk and has eaten everything he has been given. We still wait everyday for a cure to be found for our little dude. There is NOTHING worse than having your son break down and tell you that he hates having diabetes and why does he have it. He will require shots and blood testing for the rest of his life.
This is a disease that he will NEVER outgrow and is why we HAVE to find a cure for Parker and all these kids!

Shannon, Parker, his sister Sydnie, Dad (Mike) and the whole family along with many, many friends get together this time every year to participate in a walk that raises money to help find a cure for this disease. During this time of year, many of you make donations to causes that you feel strongly about. This is one that could use your help, no matter how small. It all adds up! Consider this foundation this year for a donation and you wil be helping many kids like Parker. Make donations online at
http://www.jdrf.org/. All major credit cards are accepted on the secured web page. All donations are TAX-DEDUCTIBLE.

Thank you and much love to all of you!!