Let's Make History Again - JDRF Canada's $100M Campaign to Accelerate Launch Event

WOW.

I got home two and a half hours ago from JDRF Canada’s Let’s Make History Again event, and it is still the only thing I can think about. So many crazy and amazing things happened today that a billion words and images are bouncing around inside my head looking back at it all, and the only thought I can focus on long enough to be able to effectively communicate it through words is WOW, THAT WAS AMAZING.

Today’s event was so incredibly unique that it is kind of difficult to explain in a way that does it justice; so, I think the best place to start is at the beginning.

100 years ago, insulin was discovered by Canadians Frederick Banting and Charles Best at the University of Toronto. It was first successfully used to treat type one diabetes on January 11^th, 1922. Since then, insulin has gone on to save millions of lives, it has been deemed ‘Canada’s gift to the world,’ and it is regarded as the greatest discovery in diabetes history. The universal acclaim for the gift of insulin is not surprising, nor is it undeserved, as type one diabetics would die without insulin. Insulin promises survival, so long as you are not taking too much or too little of it.

But.

Insulin is not a cure.

JDRF Canada, first known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, was founded in 1970 by parents of type one diabetics. JDRF was created with the purpose of funding research that will cure type one diabetes, and today it is the nation’s leading charitable organization in the field of type one diabetes research.

In 1990, a brave trailblazer by the name of Peter Oliver (of Oliver and Bonacini Hospitality) took it upon himself to raise both awareness for type one diabetes and funds for JDRF Canada by doing something completely outside of the box – and something completely off the ground! For 100 hours, Peter Oliver lived in a tent atop a 40-foot-tall flagpole to raise $250,000 for JDRF. Living alone atop the flagpole represented the balancing act that is living with type one diabetes and having to be constantly aware of your blood glucose levels and how you are feeling.

32 years have passed since Peter Oliver’s ascent for JDRF – 32 years of progress and innovation in terms of the ease of management of type one diabetes. This year also marks the centennial anniversary of the Canadian discovery of insulin. It has been 100 years of survival, progress, and innovation since this wonderful discovery; and yet, there is still no cure to type one diabetes. Through the launch of their $100M Campaign to Accelerate, JDRF is doing something about that.

The campaign aims both to honour the Canadian discovery of insulin, and to accelerate the pace of research towards a cure, which would be the next greatest discovery in diabetes history. Such a monumentally huge campaign naturally requires an epic and amazing public launch, and today this launch took the form of Let’s Make History Again.

Five brave Canadians are following in the footsteps of Peter Oliver and will be living atop flagpoles across Canada for 100 hours, just like he did 32 years ago. These volunteers, who are known as our Leaders in History, are taking part in this exceptional challenge in five locations across the country: one in Calgary, one in Vancouver, one in Montreal, and two in Toronto. Today, as these Leaders in History made the 40-foot ascent to the tops of their flagpoles, they helped us all get one step closer to making history (again)! The kick-off event of Let’s Make History Again in Toronto at the TD Centre was amazing – and I know this because I got the incredible opportunity to emcee it!

The images are bouncing around my head again as I try to put to words the experiences I had this morning – I’m seeing so many JDRF staff and volunteers laughing and smiling as they worked together to get the event ready; I’m seeing Chris Overholt, the Leader in History who went up atop the TD Centre location flagpole and is one of the most charismatic people I think I have ever met, waving down at all of us from his tent, grinning from ear to ear; I’m seeing Peter Oliver, father of Vanessa Oliver, who was diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was six and who inspired Peter’s original flagpole challenge, as he addressed the crowd and talked about how we need to find a cure “for our children”; I'm seeing Vanessa Oliver, who is another Toronto Leader in History, thanking her father for his support and speaking to the struggles of life with type one diabetes; I’m seeing all the corporate sponsors and partners who supported JDRF and made today possible; I’m seeing the members of Parliament, MP Sonia Sidhu, MP Adam Van Koeverden, and Deputy Premier Christine Elliott, who showed up for the type one diabetes community today and showed their support for JDRF and for the campaign; and I am just thinking… wow.

Like, seriously, WOW. It is a struggle to think past that, but when I really try, a few words that come to mind describing today are inspirational, touching, overwhelming, and historic.

Waves of awe and wonder and wow (really – WOW) are pulling me under as I attempt to give an explanation of today that does the event and everything it represents justice, and it is all I can do to keep my head above water so I can actually breathe in the reality of what is going to come next.

Because what comes next is a cure.

JDRF Canada President and CEO, Dave Prowten, spoke at today’s event, and he said something that resonated very deeply with me, and I would wager it did so with everyone else who was there, too. When it comes to curing type one diabetes, it is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. It is a matter of how fast we can get there.

Sounds like a challenge, to me. How fast can we get to a cure? I’d say that’s up to us. It is up to us to fund the research that is leading us to the cure to type one diabetes. The question is not will we get there, but when? Are we stumbling along the path, or are we running past the finish line with purpose, determination, and strength? I don’t know why we would do anything but go full speed ahead.

JDRF Canada’s $100M Campaign to Accelerate is taking up the challenge and accelerating the pace at which we can get to a cure, through funding the research that will make it possible. Canada discovered insulin. Canada can cure diabetes. Let’s make history again. I am so thankful to everyone who goes to canadacuresdiabetes.ca and becomes part of the next greatest discovery in diabetes history by donating to the campaign.

I end with two final thoughts.

First, anything is possible.

Second…

Wow. 😊