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| World Diabetes Day and DS Quarterly Gathering! |
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 DiabetesSisters Quarterly Gathering- Sat., Nov. 14, 2009, Raleigh, NC Nov. 15, 2009 Hello Sisters! It was wonderful to spend time with some of you on World Diabetes Day this past Saturday! The FIRST DiabetesSisters Quarterly Gathering was a huge success! By success, I mean that we had a diverse group of 22 women- Type 1, Type 2, and pre-diabetes. The ages ranged from 20-65ish. Everyone told a little of their diabetes story, ate lunch together, heard an inspirational speaker, and had fun talking with other women who are living with diabetes. A few tears were shed while women were sharing their stories, but, to me, that is a good sign that DiabetesSisters provided a safe, welcoming environment for women to be open and honest about their disease. Too often, women walk around bottling up their emotions about diabetes because they are too busy or don’t have anyone to share them with. When they finally do open up about their feelings in a safe peer environment, it ALL comes rushing out! Then, afterward, it feels as if a huge weight has been lifted from their back….In fact, they had gotten so used to carrying the weight that they had forgotten about it! Ahhhhh! What a sense of relief camaraderie can bring! We also had the opportunity to discuss aloud some of the issues women were dealing with and get feedback from the whole room. That kind of feedback is priceless! Many of the women who attended the Gathering also attended the DiabetesSisters Meet & Greet Event at the TCOYD Conference in May of this year. Rose Marie Holsing and Debra Y. are shining examples of how beneficial a support and education program like DiabetesSisters can be! Living with Type 2 diabetes, these two women met in May at the Meet & Greet event and struck up a friendship. Debra had fought her doctor’s requests to start insulin for years and Rose Marie was about to start insulin. Since May they have stayed in touch and supported each other through their first insulin injections and continue to support each other today! They have become TRUE DiabetesSisters! I don’t want to tell you too much about their amazing story here because they are going to be highlighted in an upcoming DS monthly newsletter! Rose Marie is also serving as the DiabetesSisters Quarterly Gathering Coordinator. If you would like more information about our next Gathering (date, time, location, etc.), I encourage you to email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We will also post information about the next Gathering on the homepage of the website as soon as it becomes available. Eventually, we hope to reproduce these Gatherings around the country. If you are interested in leading a DiabetesSisters Gathering in your area, please send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Either Rose Marie or I will be able to provide the details about setting up a successful event. We can also advertise it on the DS website and in the DS monthly newsletter. There is no cost associated with it because everyone pays for their own lunch. However, there is some behind-the-scenes work that must take place to plan for the event.Thank you to all of the DiabetesSisters who attended the Gathering. You presence made World Diabetes Day a special day for me and the other women who attended.
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