The Breakthrough Type 1 Diabetes Walk was Sunday afternoon at the Durant Multi-Sports Complex and more than $5,000 has been raised for diabetes research.
The walk is an event where type 1 diabetes community members gather to transform the future for everyone facing T1D. The walk fuels research toward cures for diabetes.
Trish Winters is the Oklahoma chapter director of Breakthrough T1D.
“I am a parent of two boys with type 1 diabetes which is why this mission is so important to me,” Winters said. “So, thank you from my family for all of the support you all have given Breakthrough T1D.”
She said much has changed in the care and treatment of diabetes since her boys were diagnosed.
“The research and advances are made possible by people like you that are willing to come out and walk and support and ask your family and friends to help by donating, so thank you,” Winters said.
Winters credited Melissa Brewer and Paris Al-Khateib for making the walk happen.
“We would not have this walk if it weren’t for Melissa,” Winters said. “Melissa reached out to us about a year and a half ago, two years maybe, and she was willing to help organize this and take this on because there was such a need in southeast Oklahoma for people and families living with type 1 diabetes to have a support system and something like this. One of the sweetest things that I heard, when Rhett, her son is type 1 said, ‘I wish I didn’t have type 1 diabetes but if I didn’t, we wouldn’t have this walk.’” Brewer said the event keeps getting bigger every year.
“It just warms my heart every time to see how much bigger this event is getting every year and I’m so thankful for Trish for finally giving me that yes, that we can do this here because I’m so thankful for Breakthrough T1D and everything they do to make Rhett’s life easier than it would have been several years ago, and I’m just so thankful for all of the volunteers that came out here to help. So, thank you, especially to the Southeastern volunteers.
“I hope that everybody comes out again to next year’s walk in November and that we see this walk continue to get even bigger.”
Brewer said Rhett was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes shortly after his fifth birthday. She wanted to become involved, but there was not anything local at the time that she could do in November for Diabetes Awareness Month.
“I actually started contacting people at Breakthrough T1D to try and get a walk here in Durant and this is now our third walk,” Brewer said. “We’re very excited by how much it’s grown. We’ve already almost reached our $6,000 fundraising goal” She said more than 100 people signed up for the event.
“We hope everybody has a good time, keeps this on their radar for next year,” Brewer said. “We’re going to keep this an annual thing for Diabetes Awareness Month in November and hope that it continues to grow and we can continue to have this support of community that we’ve built here in Durant.”
Shortly after Rhett was diagnosed, Brewer’s best friend Kalley Radford learned her daughter had diabetes.
“That’s actually how we became friends was we connected on Facebook realizing that we both had children around the same age with type 1 diabetes, and we realized how important it was to have that kind of supportive friendship,” Brewer said.
She said that she wanted other people to know there are others in the community who have diabetes.
“It’s not something you have to go through on your own, and this walk has really helped us build that community up and we’ve got a really good tribe of people now,” Brewer said.
Awards were presented before the walk, and Jennifer Saunders-Lane was presented with a certificate for her outstanding volunteer work.
“This wouldn’t have happened without Jennifer this year,” Brewer said. “Even though this walk started with myself and Paris working on it, we were both so busy this year, we could not have done it without Jennifer.”
Kenn’s Champions received the Most Team Spirit award and Jesus & Insulin received an award for Best Team Walk Shirt. The Top Fundraising Team was Jennifer’s Joint Forces. SE vs. T1D received the Largest Team Award.
Brewer’s husband, Ryan Brewer, who is the City of Durant Parks & Recreation Director, said Monday that $5200 has been raised.
“But donations will still be rolling in almost all month of November,” he said.
