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Joining a national effort to develop a cure for Type 1 diabetes, a group of five teenagers in Palo Alto has helped raise nearly $140,000 to fund research on the disease.
Working with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Avery Reller, Juliet Frick, Ella Hoy, Eli Paz and Tyler Martin, who have all been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, walked in a 5K earlier this month with their friends and family. Avery Reller, a senior at Palo Alto High School, has been either attending walks with the organization or organizing them herself since she was first diagnosed nine years ago.
Reller and her co-organizers spoke to the sense of community and excitement that being around so many other Type 1 diabetics or supportive friends and family members has sparked, especially after being diagnosed at such a young age.
“That was like the first time I really found this community of people,” she told this publication in an interview.
Reller said that, after the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to attend one of the larger walks that the nonprofit’s NorCal branch usually hosts at Great America in 2020, she set to work on organizing one within her neighborhood in Old Palo Alto and Professorville. The walks evolved from her and her family walking around the neighborhood and raising money on a smaller scale together to now a group effort to raise tens of thousands of dollars, she said.
To date, Reller said she has raised roughly $500,000 for Type 1 diabetes research.
For Reller, who enjoys weightlifting in her spare time and plays on Palo Alto High School’s lacrosse team, raising funds by getting her friends and family to spend time outdoors doing physical activity fits right in with her personal interests. This year’s walk on Nov. 5 was a 5K loop around Reller’s neighborhood, complete with over 100 attendees sporting hats and T-shirts branded by the nonprofit.
The attendees completed the 5K and then gathered at Reller’s house for tacos after, she said.
The students said they sent emails to their respective family and friends, both encouraging them to attend the walk and encouraging them to donate to the cause. As of Nov. 22, the group of teenagers have raised a total of $139,608 for the cause, making them the top fundraisers on the leaderboard for the nonprofit’s NorCal fundraising branch — beating out the Salesforce HQ Walk Team, which raised $120,063. The NorCal branch as a whole has raised a total of $1,150,167.
Type 1 diabetics typically need to take insulin multiple times a day and monitor their blood sugar to avoid blood sugar levels that are too high or too low. In addition to funding research, the global diabetes nonprofit also serves as a resource for those diagnosed to better understand how Type 1 diabetes works and how best to manage it.
The organization also provides free “care kits” for children, teens and adults who are newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and works with lawmakers to advocate for affordable insulin and investment in innovation to find a cure for the disease.
Co-organizer Ella Hoy said the research that the nonprofit funds has given her access to essential tools that help her manage the symptoms of Type 1 diabetes.
“Without (the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), I probably wouldn’t have both my (continuous glucose monitor) which allows me to track my blood sugar and my insulin pump,” she told this publication in an email. “Funding for the development of both of these devices came from (the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), which is why fundraisers like ours are so important.”
Co-organizer Juliet Frick said when she was first diagnosed at the age of 11, the implications of the diagnosis were life-changing and overwhelming. Frick said her family was already friends with Reller’s, who encouraged them to get involved with the nonprofit at the time.
Frick said she was “amazed” by the generosity she witnessed from people who chose to donate and came to attend the walk.
“As a Type 1 diabetic, it’s so empowering to find a community of other people who know what you’re going through, and I feel so grateful and lucky to have found Avery, Ella, Eli, and Tyler,” she said in an email.
“It was so amazing to see the support we got from everyone we love, and it’s important to know that even by just walking around your neighborhood, you can help be the next step towards a cure for Type 1 diabetes.”
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