One last blog update and the radiothon

One last blog update and the radiothon

Well, I think this is the last blog update for me and our family blog.  I originally started this blog to help me organize all the pictures I take throughout the year and then put into a Shutterfly book.  That was working well for a while, but I felt like I was still kind of doing extra work each month.  Why not just put everything straight into the Shutterfly book and keep adding to it all year long?  Plus, with Shutterfly share sites, my whole family and some friends can see the pictures we take each month.  To that is what I've been going.  Here is a link to our Shutterfly site:

https://jsjcejohnsonfamily.shutterfly.com/

I really enjoyed having this blog during Evan's diabetes diagnosis and during the first few months of our journey with diabetes.  It was such a scary time for our family, and I had so much on my mind and on my heart that at times I felt like I wanted to share with the world, and at other times just wanted to keep hidden away.  Typing it all into a blog where people could choose to read it if they wanted to helped clear my mind and helped keep my heart from getting too heavy.  Evan is doing so well now, and even though his diabetes will be a daily concern for us for the rest of his life, it's nice that "normal" baby problems have taken over our days.  For example, teething, and Evan pulling the child safety caps out of the electrical sockets!  Yes, he has started crawling now (in his own special, half scooting, half froggy-hopping sort of way).  So we are in a very good place with everything.  It feels so many different ways to look back on this diabetes journey, and remember where we were at the beginning, where we were just a few months ago, and where we are now.  I guess, overall, we are proud of ourselves for making it through the toughest times, and so extremely proud of Evan for being the patient, loving, happy boy that he is.

Jeremy, Evan, and I will be heading to Madison on Wednesday night to participate in a radiothon for the children's hospital where Evan's endocrinologist works.  It is the University of Wisconsin American Family Children's Hospital, and Evan's doctor is the one and only, Doctor Michael MacDonald.  He really is one-of-a-kind, just like Evan, and has been so good to our family.  We will be interviewed live on Thursday by two different Madison radio stations.  We will share Evan's story, and talk a lot about Doctor MacDonald and all that he had done, and continues to do for Evan.  This is a huge fundraiser for the hospital, so we hope by sharing our story people call in and donate money to the hospital.  Finally, we can start to give back to Doctor MacDonald and his staff.  The two radio stations that will interview us that morning are Today's Q106 and 93.1 JAMZ.  The radiothon will run live Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Our time slot is Thursday, May 8 from 8-9am.  If anyone would like to make a donation, but can't get the radio stations where you live, you can check out the American Family Children's Hospital website.  Or, there is a way to make your donation go directly to Doctor MacDonald and the pediatric diabetes research he does in his lab.

To make a gift in support of Dr. MacDonald’s work:
To make a gift by check, make check payable to the "Children’s Diabetes Center" and mail to :
UW Foundation
US Bank Lockbox Box 78807
Milwaukee, WI  53278-0807

To make a gift online, please go to www.supportuw.org/giveto/SMPH and in the text box, please enter "Children’s Diabetes Center"

Julia and Claire held a little bake sale at a family rummage sale at my sister's house a few weeks ago.  They raised $35, and wanted to donate it to the children's hospital.  We told Doctor MacDonald about it and he was thrilled that they wanted to do that.  He said they love getting personal donations, rather than government grants, because of the stories that come with the personal donations.  Every little bit counts towards finding a cure to diabetes.