Diabetes Viewpoints

Friends For Life

By Tom Karlya

It was a magical night. But than again, the Thursday night of the Children with Diabetes (CWD) Conference in Florida entitled Friends for Life always is a magical night. It’s the night of the annual banquet, which is about the kids, a great keynote speaker, fun, acknowledgements, and a slide show or two celebrating what we do year in and year out. Why would this year be any different?

I’ve been the host of this banquet every year but one which I had no control over. This year, Nicole Johnson would host with me. My daughter would also be there as she was a CWD college scholarship winner and she was to be announced as one of the first recipients of a scholarship. Two beautiful young ladies, who I adore, joined with me and a crowd of our closest friends numbering about 3000. Jill, my wife, had to stay home as she had just started a new job.

The evening was moving along smoothly as we worked our way to the award ceremony. Many different awards were given out, working towards the announcement of the Jeff Hitchcock Distinguished Service Award, the highest award given by the largest children’s website in the world. I always look forward to this announcement, as the recipient is always a secret. Jeff Hitchcock approached the microphone.

The night before this lovely event, I called home. I told my wife that something was different about Jeff this trip. He seemed overly emotional whenever I spoke with him. Jeff and I go back a few years and certainly have many things in common as both our daughters were diagnosed at an early age, both had been part of CWD’s Friends for Life since our first trip in 2000, and both kids were pursuing careers in the medical field in college. Jeff plays it close and is not an overly emotional guy, but I thought something could have even been wrong. This year, Jeff had a secret.

Jeff is a rarity and as unselfish as he is knowledgeable in the diabetes arena. There are very few people he does not know and so many more that know of him. In 1995, Jeff flipped the switch so his daughter could be part of a community with other kids going through what she was, living with diabetes, and Children with Diabetes website was born.

The conferences were born when one woman, Laura Billetdeaux, said that she was going to Florida in a CWD chat room in 2000 and if anyone wanted to meet up, they were free to do so. Hundreds of people showed up and the Friends for Life conference was born. The diabetes quilt was added, the online chats continued, and the reputation of CWD grew exponentially as THE community for children with diabetes.

I’ve written on many occasions of that ‘holy grail’ where a diabetes entity could unify the world as a one single diabetes force to reckon with in advocacy, research, and education. In principal; CWD stands alone as the closest to that target. Should others (foundations, associations, etc.) stop resisting them as a competitor and embrace them as a partner, as the Diabetes Research Institute has done, the diabetes community would be better served.

CWD has one goal, and that is reminding us that kids with diabetes are just kids and to help families dealing with diabetes. They run on the strength of their volunteers and the willingness of others to change the lives of kids who live with diabetes.

I have a friend who probably has one of the best business minds I have ever known. In fact, in my eyes he is a corporate genius. He asked me a question recently: How a commercial entity could accomplish the task of recruiting so many volunteers?

Jeff approached the microphone and he announced that this year’s winner was a father of a daughter with diabetes and the daughter was someone who had just graduated high school. He turned toward me.

My first reaction was that he needed me to do something, as I was the emcee. Our eyes locked on each other and a tear fell down Jeff’s face on each side as he looked at me and he said, “This year’s winner is Tom Karlya.”

And the world stood still.

I started to tremble and everything I relay to you I learned from others because I was caught totally off guard. I could not move, I cried, I looked and Kaitlyn was there and I completely lost my breath. Three thousand people stood and many of them were crying. They were applauding loudly and it all moved by me so fast. Jeff and I embraced and I said thank you and I was at a total loss for words. And that was it. I was a humbled mess and someone on this earth finally found a way to shut me up.

The list of people ahead of me for this or any award should be thousands and I was enormously humbled. I thank the CWD for the Jeff Hitchcock Distinguished Service Award, given for outstanding leadership and advocacy for children and families with diabetes. It will remain one of the highest honors in my life and it will always represent the very essence of what CWD is all about. And they are about helping kids, reminding us every minute of every day that kids with diabetes are all just kids. It doesn’t get any purer than that fact. It doesn’t become any clearer than that.

Perhaps that’s why so many people volunteer for CWD. There’s no unstated agenda. They are who they say they are. Their goal is simple but absolutely crystal clear - they will help children. The credit for that goes to Jeff Hitchcock. The credit for the conference goes to Laura Billetdeaux. There is not a better 1-2 punch in the battle we all fight as parents than those two. And they have given up more time than anyone else, time away from their families and away from their own lives. They have asked for nothing in return. Those of us with children with diabetes owe them so much. Jeff Hitchcock flipped a switch and the world will never be the same. I thank God for that every day. That’s probably why people volunteer. I’m humbled and honored to call them friends, friends for life. Laura is a mom and Jeff, like me, is a diabetes dad.

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Disclaimer
dLife's Daily Living columnists are not all medical experts, but everyday people living with diabetes and sharing their personal experiences. While their method of diabetes management may work for them, everyone is different. Please consult with your diabetes care team to find out what will work best for you.