Micheala wears a "pump pouch" around her waist to hold her insulin pump secure to her body. With her size, it is the only option for her to wear her insulin pump without it either falling off of her or getting in the way. Her jean pockets are too small to hold the pump and the clip that she can use to clip it to her jeans has broken. Another nice thing about the pump pouch is that it is worn underneath her clothes so that she can hide her pump from others. As I have mentioned before, Micheala sometimes gets embarrassed about having a pump and sometimes gets frustrated with all of the questions that the pump seems to invite from others. I wear a pump pouch as well, because I too enjoy the convenience that it provides.
Recently, Dylanne decided that she wanted to start wearing a pump pouch. She has no insulin pump to put in the pouch and I was not sure why she wanted to wear one. For the past 2 weeks, Dylanne has been wearing a pump pouch underneath her clothes. She wears it to school, at home and even to bed. I was confused at this gesture, because it's not like pump pouches are a new fad or trend, so why was she doing this? I had to step back and look at Micheala to find the answer.
Since Dylanne has started wearing the pouch, Micheala has started to feel better about the fact that she has to wear a pouch. It is as if Dylanne is offering support to Micheala. Comparable to when people wear pink for breast cancer awareness. It is a real cool move by Dylanne to do this and I learned a pretty good lesson by watching Dylanne do this.
Dylanne isn't in a position in which she can financially fund a cure for Micheala. At 8 years old, she is pretty active in our fundraising efforts. She is a great support person as she allows us to advocate for a cure, while placing her own needs on the back burner, much like what Heather does. Every so often, she will talk about what she can do to help, or suggest some different ideas for our fundraising, but again, at age 8, has little that she can do on her own to help. So she decided to do something that she is capable of doing by herself, which is support her sister.
Wearing the pump pouch is a great example of one person doing something to help. It goes back to what i have said from day 1: It's not just about raising funds, it's about being part of something special, it's about being part of the cure. Dylanne is being part of the cure.
I get the question, "What can I do to help?" a lot from people that what to get involved with our purpose. I get a bit dumb founded because I am not sure how to respond. I think that what it comes down to is, what do you want to do?
I have many friends and family that get involved at many different levels. Some seek out many donations, so just attend the walk and show support and others help spread the word of our purpose. Each level of involvement is just as important as the other, because the bottom line is....your getting involved.
I believe that we all, at some point, have dreams of changing the world in our own little way. Some of us fulfill these dreams by voting at elections, some of us volunteer at our schools, we choose to fund a cure for diabetes.
So I encourage all of you to learn from my daughter, Dylanne. Get involved in something, no matter what your level of contribution...just contribute. You may think that you're not doing enough....but it means the world to those on the receiving end.
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