Podcast appearances and mentions of kerri sparling

It's a bonus episode of Diabetes Connections! We've got an Ask Me Anything panel with two incredible advocates. Kerri Sparling and Kenny Rodenheiser talk about everything from independence, to their support systems, communication around type 1, mental health, burnout and more. It's smart and honest and funny – and even after 18 years of parenting a child with type 1 – I find these talks incredible helpful. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Learn more about Kerri Sparling Join us at an upcoming Moms' Night Out event! Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Learn more about Gvoke Glucagon Gvoke HypoPen® (glucagon injection): Glucagon Injection For Very Low Blood Sugar (gvokeglucagon.com) Omnipod - Simplify Life Learn about Dexcom  Check out VIVI Cap to protect your insulin from extreme temperatures The best way to keep up with Stacey and the show is by signing up for our weekly newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter here Here's where to find us: Facebook (Group) Facebook (Page) Instagram Check out Stacey's books! Learn more about everything at our home page www.diabetes-connections.com  Reach out with questions or comments: info@diabetes-connections.

Kicking Off the New Year – Featuring Kerri SparlingTAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIABETES® - THE PODCAST! ...With Expert Endocrinologists Living with T1D, Drs. Steven V. Edelman & Jeremy PettusKicking off the new year with this special podcast starring a fellow type 1 Kerri Sparling, Writer, Speaker, and the Author of Six Until Me: Essays from a Life with Diabetes! Throughout this episode, Kerri Sparling shares her story and highlights the sense of community diabetes has fostered in her life. As the conversation unfolds, we shift gears to explore our perspectives on New Year's resolutions and unveil some of our plans for the new year. We are eagerly anticipating what advancements come in 2024 for the ever-evolving world of diabetes!In this episode, we will talk about:Who is Kerri Sparling? How is Kerri Sparling connected to TCOYD? How does Kerri Sparling approach writing about living with Diabetes? What topics does Kerri Sparling write about? Why is speaking about complications (of living with diabetes) so important? What complications has Kerri Sparling gone through? How does Kerri Sparling find her diabetes community? What does Kerri Sparling hope for in the future of diabetes technology? Watch “A Day in the Life of Two Real People with Diabetes”: https://youtu.be/-Pq1qEQE3h**Tune in for 2 new episodes each month! Like what you hear and want to help us grow? Please rate and review this podcast so we can reach more people living with diabetes!** ★ Support this podcast ★

At Moms' Night Out Providence, I was part of an Ask Us Anything panel that included Moira McCarthy and Kerri Sparling. We had a lot of fun on this panel and a lot of fun at MNO period. If you're wondering what this event is all about, I think this panel will give you a lot of insight. It's serious, and humorous, I hope helpful, and it's all peer to peer – we're not doctors. Moira McCarthy's daughter, Lauren, was marking 26 years with T1D during this event! Moira is a ski, adventure and travel writer. A JDRF International Volunteer of the Year and author of six books including, “Raising Teens with Diabetes.” Her blog Despite Diabetes helped me a lot and she's left it up as a resource. Kerri Sparling is a writer, poet and speaker who has dedicated her life to the power of the patient narrative. Best known for the blog and book, “SixUntilMe,” she is the author of “Balancing Diabetes” and “Rage Bolus and other poems.” Kerri has lived with type 1 for 37 years. Our next MNO is in Charlotte in February This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.   Find out more about Moms' Night Out  Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Take Control with Afrezza  Omnipod - Simplify Life Learn about Dexcom  Edgepark Medical Supplies Check out VIVI Cap to protect your insulin from extreme temperatures Learn more about AG1 from Athletic Greens  Drive research that matters through the T1D Exchange The best way to keep up with Stacey and the show is by signing up for our weekly newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter here Here's where to find us: Facebook (Group) Facebook (Page) Instagram Twitter Check out Stacey's books! Learn more about everything at our home page www.diabetes-connections.com  Reach out with questions or comments: info@diabetes-connections.com  

At Moms' Night Out Providence, I was part of an Ask Us Anything panel that included Moira McCarthy and Kerri Sparling. We had a lot of fun on this panel and a lot of fun at MNO period. If you're wondering what this event is all about, I think this panel will give you a lot of insight. It's serious, and humorous, I hope helpful, and it's all peer to peer – we're not doctors. Moira McCarthy's daughter, Lauren, was marking 26 years with T1D during this event! Moira is a ski, adventure and travel writer. A JDRF International Volunteer of the Year and author of six books including, “Raising Teens with Diabetes.” Her blog Despite Diabetes helped me a lot and she's left it up as a resource. Kerri Sparling is a writer, poet and speaker who has dedicated her life to the power of the patient narrative. Best known for the blog and book, “SixUntilMe,” she is the author of “Balancing Diabetes” and “Rage Bolus and other poems.” Kerri has lived with type 1 for 37 years. Our next MNO is in Charlotte in February This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.   Find out more about Moms' Night Out  Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Take Control with Afrezza  Omnipod - Simplify Life Learn about Dexcom  Edgepark Medical Supplies Check out VIVI Cap to protect your insulin from extreme temperatures Learn more about AG1 from Athletic Greens  Drive research that matters through the T1D Exchange The best way to keep up with Stacey and the show is by signing up for our weekly newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter here Here's where to find us: Facebook (Group) Facebook (Page) Instagram Twitter Check out Stacey's books! Learn more about everything at our home page www.diabetes-connections.com  Reach out with questions or comments: info@diabetes-connections.com  

I first joined the diabetes online community in 2016 after graduating college and wanting to learn more about actually living with this diagnosis. What I didn't know? This community had been being built for years - even before Instagram and TikTok made their way as platforms. Meet Kerri Sparling, the author of Six Until Me: Essays from a life with diabetes. Kerri created her blog after being diagnosed with diabetes in 1986 and wanting to share connections throughout the T1D community. She has now inspired others to do the same. Inside this episode, we discuss our diagnoses in different generations and how we get to choose how we engage and share in the online space. SHOW NOTES ⏰ (1:20): Introductions ⏰ (3:34): Different diagnosis stories ⏰ (7:15): The Pee Alarm ⏰ (9:27): Technological advances ⏰ (13:05): How did “Six Until Me” get started? ⏰ (16:35): Feelings around the numbers ⏰ (20:25): What experiences came with sharing so much of your journey online? ⏰ (27:52): Rage Bolusing ⏰ (31:03): Best and worst things of sharing online ⏰ (34:50): Best piece of advice ⏰ (37:15): Where can everybody find you? Resources for this episode: Hang out with Kerri on IG: @sixuntilme https://www.instagram.com/sixuntilme/ Buy her books: https://kerrisparling.com/ Grab your pack of Skin Grip using code "LISSIE" at www.skingrip.com Join us inside the Keeping it 100 Diabetes Coaching Experience: https://needlesandspoons.kartra.com/page/keepingit100 Grab the Keeping it 100 Diabetes Journal: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BB5ZL6R8?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Check out our blog: https://www.needlesandspoons.com/blog Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ki100official_/ Check out our free resource hub: https://needlesandspoons.com/free-resources/

The author of Six Until Me, Kerri Sparling, isn't blogging any more, but she's still looking for stories of connection and community built around conversation For 14 years Kerri wrote a daily blog about her experience with type 1. She put aside SixUntilMe in 2019. We're going to talk about her new book, what she thinks about the online community these days and what's next. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! *Click here to learn more about OMNIPOD* *Click here to learn more about AFREZZA* *Click here to learn more about DEXCOM*

It's It's “In the News…” a look at the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. This week: a troubling new study about how many people with diabetes ration insulin, a new study looks at OpenAPS compared to traditional pumps, more research on Beta Bionics' iLet pump, an old diabetes drug might help in the fight against dementia, and more! Learn more about the T1D Exchange: https://t1dexchange.org/stacey/ Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! *Click here to learn more about OMNIPOD* *Click here to learn more about AFREZZA* *Click here to learn more about DEXCOM* Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I'm Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. XX In the news is brought to you by T1D Exchange! T1D Exchange is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for the entire T1D population. https://t1dexchange.org/stacey/ XX A new study shows nearly 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. with diabetes either skipped, delayed or used less insulin than was needed to save money. That comes out to roughly 1.3 million adults, or 16.5% of those who need insulin. The findings were based on data from the 2021 National Health Interview Survey, which is conducted annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and which interviews tens of thousands of Americans about their health-related experiences. It was the first time that the CDC had included questions about insulin use, though concerns about sky-high insulin prices have been reported for years. Starting Jan. 1, the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in August, will cap the monthly cost of insulin at $35 for seniors on Medicare. The bill, however, will leave out millions of Americans with private health insurance as well as those who are uninsured. It was also found to be more common among people with type 1 diabetes, at 18.6%, compared to those with type 2 diabetes, at 15.8% https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/insulin-prices-many-adults-diabetes-ration-insulin-study-finds-rcna52287?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma XX New islet cell transplant study looks very promising. Long term outcomes of two phase 3 clinical trials shows many patients didn't need insulin to maintain their blood sugar for up to eight years. It also showed that a new approach required fewer transplants than typical and was exceedingly safe. These trials included people who had kidney transplants and showed islet cell transplants for those people was safe and effective. 75 percent who initially were able to come off insulin therapy, more than half maintained total insulin independence, meaning they needed no additional insulin injections throughout the years of follow-up. https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2022/october/new-islet-transplant-method-leads-to-insulin-independence XX Study out of New Zealand looked at DIY diabetes tech and compared to some commercial offerings. Not sure what they were tyring to prvoe here because they looked at a closed loop system OpenAPS and compared it to a regular old pump and CGM system with no automation. No surprisingly, the people with type 1 in the AID group had much more time in range – about 14 percent more – than those using a standalone pump and CGM. No severe lows or DKA in either group. But these days, IMO, looking at an automated insulin delivery system to a pump and CGM that don't communicate is like comparing apples and chain saws. https://www.medtechdive.com/news/do-it-yourself-artificial-pancreas-diabetes/633888/ XX More good news for the iLet Bionic Pancreas. A clinical trial, conducted at 16 clinical sites across the United States, enrolled 326 participants ages 6 to 79 years who had type 1 diabetes and had been using insulin for at least 1 year. Participants were randomly allocated to a treatment group using the bionic pancreas or a standard-of-care control group that continued with their pre-trial method of glucose monitoring and insulin dosing. In participants using the bionic pancreas, A1C improved from 7.9% to 7.3%, yet remained unchanged among the control group. The iLet doesn't use carb counting – just meal announcements and it sets basal rates with just the user's body weight. It's currently in front of the US FDA, awaiting approval. XX Insulet issued an urgent medical device correction on Monday related to battery problems with a component of its Omnipod DASH system. The device uses a wearable insulin pod that's controlled by a personal diabetes manager (PDM), a smartphone-like device that does the calculations for bolus insulin doses. Insulet plans to replace the PDMs for all of its current Omnipod DASH users globally, incurring an aggregate charge of $35 million to $45 million, J.P. Morgan Analyst Robbie Marcus wrote in a Monday research note. Insulet said it received reports of some Omnipod DASH users having battery problems with their PDM devices, including the battery swelling, fluid leaking from the battery, and in rare cases, extreme overheating. In a letter to users, the company said it plans to ship updated devices to all current Omnipod DASH customers in the coming months. The battery issue applies to all of Insulet's Omnipod DASH PDMs, but the likelihood of problems may increase if the device has been in use longer than 18 months. Charging the device to a full battery and leaving it on the charger overnight also increases the risk. So far, Insulet said it has not received reports of any injuries related to the battery issues. The company advised patients to monitor their PDMs for battery problems, including a bulging back cover and the device losing its charge very quickly, overheating or emitting an odor. If patients notice any of these problems, they should not charge the device, stop using the system and switch to a backup insulin plan as soon as they can. Users can also contact Insulet for a temporary replacement device. https://www.medtechdive.com/news/insulet-battery-problems-omnipod-dash/634275/ XX MDT) announced today that it introduced a new diabetes management program for users of the MiniMed 770G insulin pump. The medtech giant calls the new program My Insights. It designed it exclusively for individuals using the MiniMed 770G hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system. Using an individual's data, My Insight provides personalized tips, trends and reminders to help customers manage their diabetes. Its personalized recommendations come through via monthly emails with educational content. Medtronic aims to make the content relevant based on what the individual experiences. Medtronic said it represents the first diabetes management program to go beyond “generalized tips.” Instead, it offers personalized suggestions using data from the integrated insulin pump system. The company said it made My Insights available in the U.S. to anyone using MiniMed 770G. https://www.drugdeliverybusiness.com/medtronic-launches-diabetes-insights-program-for-minimed-users/ XX Some countries are seeing shortages of Ozempic, a weekly injectable meant for people with diabetes but can be prescribe off label for weight loss. Demand has gone way up since some Tik Tok and social media influencers have shared Ozempic as a weight loss drug. Diabetes groups and especially Australian advocacy groups have advised doctors to limit prescribing the drug to people with Type 2 diabetes. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-17/ozempic-weight-loss-demand-type-2-diabetes-drug-shortage/101542226 XX Back to the news in a moment but first.. The T1D Exchange Registry is a research study conducted online over time, designed to foster innovation and improve the lives of people with T1D. The platform is open to both adults and children with T1D living in the U.S. Personal information remains confidential and participation is fully voluntary. Once enrolled, participants will complete annual surveys and have the opportunity to sign up for other studies on specific topics related to T1D. The registry aims to improve knowledge of T1D, accelerate the discovery and development of new treatments and technologies, and generate evidence to support policy or insurance changes that help the T1D community. By sharing opinions, experiences and data, patients can help advance meaningful T1D treatment, care and policy. The registry is now available on the T1D Exchange website and is simple to navigate, mobile and user-friendly. For more information or to register, go to www.t1dregistry.org/stacey XX XX XX New research shows an older drug for type 2 might help reduce the risk for dementia. People with diabetes are at higher risk of developing dementia. These researchers looked though 500-hundred thousand past medical records and found that an older class of type 2 diabetes medication known as glitazones helps reduce a person's dementia risk by 22%. These reerahres say its very promising but they want to see more real world study and also combine glitazones with other types of treatments https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/type-2-diabetes-drug-may-help-lower-dementia-risk-by-22 XX On the podcast next week.. Kerri Sparling from SixUntilMe The past episode was all about teens and type 1 – a deep dive into why teen retreats work from the people who organize a great one.. and how adults with type 1 still use the lessons they learned as teens. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That's In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon.

Spare a Rose has become an annual tradition in the diabetes community. The idea is simple: this Valentine's Day buy eleven roses, rather than the traditional dozen, and donate the money you save to the campaign. The cost of just that one rose will provide a child with diabetes in an under-resourced country enough insulin for one month. This interview is from our first Spare a Rose episode back in 2016. Stacey talks to advocates Scott Johnson, Kerri Sparling & Bennet Dunlap. In addition to learning more about he life-saving program, they also play our very first game show. Find out more and donate to Spare a Rose via Life for a Child Scott's Diabetes (blog) Kerri's new book! Rage Bolus Your Diabetes May Vary - Bennet's blog Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android Episode transcription (untouched by human hands - our computer doesn't speak diabetes very well - check back for the edited/cleaned up transcript!) Stacey Simms 0:00 This episode of Diabetes Connections is brought to you by insight the breakthrough surprising stories from the history of science. This new podcast connects old stories to what modern day medical researchers are facing. Announcer 0:18 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 0:23 Hello and welcome to one of our classic episodes. I am so glad to have you here I am your host, Stacey Simms. And as always, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. I want to talk to you about sphere of Rhodes. And if you think you know what that is all about, stay tuned anyway, because I guarantee nobody else has done a podcast like this on this issue all about sphere arose. So what is it? Well, each February since 2013, the diabetes online community all over the world has supported the charity life for a child through the spare aros save a child campaign. It is a very simple idea. Valentine's Day is coming up in the campaign goes all throughout February. But the thinking is that you should send 11 rather than 12 roses to the person that you love on Valentine's Day. And then the money that you saved from that one rose goes to spare a rose, and that one rose will provide a child with diabetes in an under resourced country enough insulin for one month. The math here is pretty simple. One rows equals one month, there are links in the show notes that on the homepage, I'll put them out on social as well with more information and easy ways to donate. I set mine up every year to just kind of keep going every month. It's very simple. And I was really excited way back when for my first spare arose episode on this podcast because I got to talk to three terrific advocates who helped create and nurture the program and continue to do so today. So I'm really excited to bring you this classic episode from 2016, which also features my very first game show on this podcast. We'll get to that in just a moment. But first, this episode of Diabetes Connections is brought to you by inside the breakthrough a new history of science podcasts full of digital stuff. The most recent episode is all about the electric car. I got a sneak peek, sneak Listen, I love this show. It is all about how bad timing killed the electric car. But it's also explaining rural versus urban, and women entering the workforce and there's so much going on in the background of the story. Inside the breakthrough was created by Simon Simon is a group of Canadian researchers dedicated to changing the way we detect treat and even reverse type two diabetes. You can find inside the breakthrough and this latest episode at Diabetes connections.com or just search for it anywhere you listen to podcasts. My guests this week are three people familiar to many of you. They always step up when they're needed. And I'm lucky to call them my friends now. Scott Johnson works at my sugar. He was there back when we spoke for this interview. But I knew him best at the time from his blog, Scott's diabetes. Bennett Dunlap has two children with type one, they're adults now. And since we first spoke, he has been diagnosed with Type two. He's been very open about that. He's been writing about that. And we last spoke when we were on a panel in gosh in November, December just of last year, and he was continuing to share his story. Carrie Sparling was writing six until me every weekday at the time of this interview, she did close the book on that blog not too long ago, she has just published a book of poetry. It's called range bolus. And I will have a link in the show notes I just found out about that I haven't had a chance to order my copy myself. But I will very excited for carry on that. And another note spare arose itself has changed a little bit since this interview, you'll hear us talk about Johnson and Johnson's involved made a few other points that may have changed, but the mission and the need have not changed. So if you can help, please do so. And remember, this podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Then it Carrie and Scott, welcome to Diabetes Connections. Unknown Speaker 4:09 Oh, thank you, Stacey. It's Unknown Speaker 4:10 a pleasure to be here. Unknown Speaker 4:12 Thanks for having us. Unknown Speaker 4:13 Yeah, it's a thrill. Thanks, Stacey Simms 4:14 Kerry. Let's start with you. Tell me a little bit about how spear rose came about. Kerri Sparling 4:19 I'm sure and I'll probably screw it up just a little tiny bit. So guys feel free to jump in and correct me at any point. But I'm spare Rose was born out of as you had mentioned, the Partnering for diabetes change group kind of got together and tried to come up with an idea and it's not exactly it's actually not at all sponsored by the IDF but their charity life for a child benefits from this program. So what it is like you said, you know, instead of buying the roses, you you really what it actually is, let me just back up a little bit is it's a way for those of us who have access to a lot to acknowledge that privilege and to kind of pop that bubble of privilege and help touch the lives of people outside of that access point. And you know, give a little of what we have two other people living with diabetes. We know what it's like. to miss an insulin injection or under calculate an insulin dose, we know what high blood sugars feel like the idea of having a child suffer from that and potentially die from that is too heartbreaking to even comprehend. So if there's a little bit that we can do to help move, the mission forward of gaining access to insulin for other people around the world, you know, in developing countries, we were like, yeah, this is something we we can't not do this is this is a must. So we all got together and decided that we could try to rally the community around this cause I think it's been very successful. Because again, it's not like one person or one group or one. I don't know, any driving force that that that runs this, it's everybody touched by diabetes has the chance to reach in and impact lives in a really, really big way. It's kind of hard to say no to that. Stacey Simms 5:45 And Scott was part of the idea here to keep it kind of simple. I mean, you buy food, you can still buy flowers on Valentine's Day, but maybe donate the value of just maybe one or two roses, what that would cost. Scott Johnson 5:55 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, simplicity is, is really important. When it comes to ideas like this, and I think ideas need to be simple in order for them to take off and and for a lot of people to get behind them and support because they have to be simple to understand for those of us who are really involved in the in the community and involved in diabetes, we understand and get it. But we're we want this message to reach many people who are not necessarily touched by diabetes or not, not that involved in the community. We wanted to reach a much wider audience. And so it needs to be a very simple idea, both simple to a to explain, simple to understand and simple to do as well. Stacey Simms 6:46 And Bennett, you're very involved in policy, do you think people are still surprised to find that, while we're talking about a specific kind of access here in the US, perhaps that in other parts of the world, the access is is much more limited? Bennet Dunlap 6:58 You know, I think that maybe they are and maybe it's a good thing that we remind them, but I don't think that anybody is surprised that insulin is hard to get and economies that are struggling. So like Carrie said, this is an opportunity for everybody to join in. Nobody owns sparrows, the community own sparrows, you own sparrows, because you're doing this podcast, God owns it, because he writes about it, whoever jumps on board is a part owner of what we're doing here. And like Scott says, It's super easy to do. So what do you do you go to spare arose.org all one word sparrows. And you click on the big rows at the top of that page. And it's going to take you to a donation page. And you can give through PayPal stupid easy, there's two dropdowns, you can give a one time gift you can give a rose. So you know Valentine's Day, a full bouquet of fancy dancy roses is maybe 60 bucks. So you take thinking give 11 take five bucks, give it the sparrows that's going to help a child stay alive for a month. Or maybe you give monthly, maybe you give a rose every month, that's a full dozen roses over the course of a year, five bucks a month. I mean, I got a Starbucks coffee staring at me. And you know, five bucks a month is way less than what I spend on coffee. And that will keep a child alive for a year. So you go to sparrows.org. either click on the give button or just click on that giant rose on the top there. Click the drop downs for whatever type of donation you want to make. Make the payment through PayPal, boom, you're done. You've helped save a life. Stacey Simms 8:35 And Carrie has been described as stupid easy, which I think is great. Bennett it really sounds like it's simple. Okay, you know, what has this come to mean to you this is I believe this is the fourth year that you will have tried to get the word out and supported this. Are you seeing change through it? Do you feel like this is something that will continue? Oh, God, I Kerri Sparling 8:55 will I mean, I I really hope it's something that will continue. But I think that change happens twofold. The first is the most important change, which is every every little donation goes and changes and improves and potentially saves the life of a child that's that is the Paramount thing, the thing that should always be on the forefront. But secondarily, people in the community are becoming more and more aware of what we truly have access to and how lucky we are as a group of people. I mean, here we are sitting on this Skype call. We're using our computers we texted before using our emails, whatever super privileged, very lucky, I don't worry about where my next injection of insulin is coming from, but to think about Hey, what's it like to worry about that what's it like to not have access to something I'm so accustomed to, to recognize how lucky we are, helps people step outside of themselves, help the community kind of evolve and grow in a way that really benefits everybody, not just the people in the community but the people outside of the community who are part of the community, but are benefiting from this campaign. We never meet these people whose lives that were changing but but knowing that we're able to, to make that change. That's really powerful stuff. And I'm hoping that out through this campaign, it helps kind of bring to bloom other ideas from different groups about how to acknowledge what we have and spread the wealth. Stacey Simms 10:10 Well, that's a really good point. Because Scott, as the point was made here, you know, this is not an idea that has a little tm after it, there's not really a copyright. Right, there isn't a tm, I didn't make that up. Just to just to check. So when we say no one owns this, and the community owns this, Scott, how have you seen that taken off, because it does look like the diabetes community really has embraced it? Scott Johnson 10:34 Well, I think it's important that that that it is embraced by everybody. And this is an idea that, that needs to be owned and embraced by as many people as possible. If If, if there's someone that tries to own something like this, it just doesn't go as far. So the whole thing is just get it out in, in, owned by owned by everybody owned by anyone that can talk about it or share it, you own it, you You are a part of it in and everybody involved with it, as is so thankful that you are doing what you're doing for it. So yeah. Stacey Simms 11:12 I'm curious to you know, the diabetes online community is a very big community. But it also seems very small in that we all kind of get to know each other. And you know, you really are many people are very accessible on Twitter, or you can you can reach them. I guess what I'm getting to and Carrie, let me read this to you is, how did you all come up with this? We talked about the you Partnering for diabetes change? What is that? Did you all sit around a table and Scott had his diet coke? And you guys kind of talk about it that way? How did it come about? Kerri Sparling 11:43 The sparrows idea itself? Unknown Speaker 11:45 Yes, Kerri Sparling 11:46 well, this, the Partnering for diabetes change coalition is a group of people who were brought together with assistance from Johnson and Johnson. So we do have to give them a huge nod because they, they don't own this project. But they've helped in part to shepherd it. And I'm really proud of of the investment that they've made in bringing the advocates together so that we could incubate this kind of idea, the idea itself, and Jeff is going to hate me for saying this. But the idea was actually born from Jeff Hitchcock, who runs the children with diabetes group. And it was just latched on to immediately by everybody in the room because it didn't serve an agenda. It didn't serve anybody's ego. It wasn't this Oh, look at me sort of thing. It was more this is actual social media for social good. This is a powerful thing. And everybody just took it and, and ran with it. So it was it was an awesome meeting. And what's come of that is, like everyone has mentioned already, nobody owns it. So this one idea, which was incubated by the group has been grabbed by the community of people living with diabetes, and beyond the diabetes community, into the patient community, and to people who work for diabetes companies. I mean, there's a lot of potential for this idea to spread. And it's a good idea to spread. Stacey Simms 12:51 And better give me your perspective, because as I mentioned, you work a lot now, with policy and that's been your interest for a while, put this in perspective for us in terms of how much easier perhaps something like spare Rose is to create change and to have an actual impact, as opposed to trying to make change happen legislatively? Well, Bennet Dunlap 13:12 you know, I'll tell you, I think that spirit Rose is the foundation of other change. I will tell you flat out that when we did the strip safely campaign, I went took the notes of how we created sparrows and just replayed them with different branding. So, you know, you mentioned that the community is large, but it feels small, I think the community is large, but it feels intimate. And what we can do with that intimacy is ask each other to help. And sparrows, to me is the very foundation of helping because like Carrie said, You're helping people you don't know you'll never see them. If you're super lucky, maybe you'll be at an event where IDF shows some of the art that these kids make, you know, and it's typical refrigerator art. In it, you see a little bit of an image of a kid that realizes they're staying alive because they're getting this magic Insulet from somebody. And that to me is the key is that we do things for others. We do things for people that will never see and then eventually we can do things for policy. But you know, if we're not living for others, we're never going to get to the policy stuff. So to me sparrows is foundational in everything we do. It's all about other people and taking the gifts you have and sharing them. Scott Johnson 14:30 It's you know, there's it's important to know that any anything helps, right like, this has been a really wonderful idea. We've seen it go a great ways so far. But if if all you can do is is one rows, that's a tremendous help before you can do a spread if you can't do one rows, but you can help spread the message. That's also a tremendous help like don't undervalue whatever You can do to help this cause it all, it all goes a very long way. Bennet Dunlap 15:05 You know? Absolutely, it's about doing what you can. And when we track what happens, we track how many people have given, doesn't matter how much you give that that you give is important to us. And if you can find five bucks, that's great and echo what Kerry said, you know, we really fortunate that the J and J brought us all and put us all in a room and then step back and, and let ideas flow. And I agree with what carries it Jeff came up with this idea and we jumped all over it hijack the rest of the agenda and spent the day figuring out how to make this work. But it isn't just j&j to get help. So if you have a business and you want to do a fun morale booster in February, let's face it, February in North America sucks. It's cold, rainy, and awful. or snowy and awful. So have a little campaign in your office put a little sign up by the coffee pot. It could be you know, your your local HVC vendor, it could be another company in the industry. Whatever this isn't a company's it isn't a person. It's everybody's Stacey Simms 16:12 more info on all of this at Diabetes connections.com. And I really hope you find it in your heart to learn more and to donate spare rose is a great cause. And we're going to do our best to make our own donations with something fun today. If you're familiar with Wait, don't tell me the NPR Quiz Show. This next segment is with full credit. And full apologies to those fine, folks. We're gonna have the Diabetes Connections version of bluff the listener and a News Quiz. If you're not familiar with Wait, wait, don't tell me. If this will still be fun. It's just kind of kind of silly. All right, so we need to welcome a listener. And I'm so excited to welcome Laura Duvall. She is here in Charlotte, and she's a published writer, founder of duelled marketing group. Laura, thanks for being here. Unknown Speaker 17:01 Absolutely. Thanks for having me. I'm excited. Stacey Simms 17:04 Laura, you have type 1 diabetes, right? Tell me a little bit about about you. Unknown Speaker 17:10 Oh, absolutely. So I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes, when I was 10 years old. And have really benefited I think over the last 20 years, 25 years or so with the new technology in play for diabetics. So I got a pump when I was in high school that really allowed me to kind of play sports and go out with my friends. And about two years ago, I got one of the Dexcom sensors, which has totally changed my world. I'm a big runner. So I have done quite a few half marathons, was actually training to run the Disney marathon this coming weekend I got injured. But the technology that's available for diabetics now is really amazing. I mean, it just gives you confidence that, you know, you can be an active and force and you're not having to test your blood sugar 800 times a day. So you know, I have had really benefited I think from the advances in technology with diabetes and you know, love love being involved in the starlight community and then the health and wellness area. I've worked for a health care system for about eight years in marketing and and now have stepped out on my own to do the same thing. So I'm really excited to be a part of today. Stacey Simms 18:27 Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us. And you, you set this next segment up perfectly talking about new technology, because every year, there are lots of announcements of diabetes, product breakthroughs, and some are useful and very helpful and they change our lives for the better is easy, we're just talking about, but some make a splash never really take off. And others are just abject failures, like the ones you're going to hear about. Our guests are going to relate a story of a failed diabetes product. One of these products is for real it made it to market, but the other two are products only of our imagination. Laura, if you can guess which is the real deal. And Bennett, Carrie and Scott are going to do their best to fool you. Diabetes Connections will make a $50 donation to spare rose in your name. Are you ready? Unknown Speaker 19:18 I'm ready. All right. Stacey Simms 19:19 Carrie, are you set? Why don't you go first? Unknown Speaker 19:22 All right, Benny 19:23 let me sell it to you. Kerri Sparling 19:24 So tech savvy type one teens have created a new app for your smartphone or tablet. It's called selfish and it's aimed at those whose parents use remote monitoring software like you know, Dexcom share nightscout. So the app creates a fake book kind of reasonable blood glucose graph, which is that beam back to the parents device. So when they look at their phone, they're like, Oh, good. My kid is doing what they're supposed to be doing. And it also includes text notifications, like yes, I checked or Yes, I have my neater however the Creator is being teenagers, you know how teenagers are. They couldn't resist being kinda like slightly jerk faces. So an early version of the app included hidden jokes and a few inappropriate It references to Nick Jonas as most things do. Parents nearly half as stupid as teenagers think they are picked up that something might not be exactly right after the first few references to this Disney Channel though Daya booty which is they give you a weird even saying that out loud. Unknown Speaker 20:14 But the tech Kerri Sparling 20:15 savvy parents have since created an override app and are on the lookout for updates. Not everybody Stacey Simms 20:21 says diabesity carry that's not in your everyday vernacular there. Because that's Kerri Sparling 20:25 what that is my wheelhouse, but I just felt weird saying it to all of you. Stacey Simms 20:29 Okay, so the selfish app created by teens is our is our first story there. Bennett. Let's hear what you have. Bennet Dunlap 20:39 Okay, well, I'm going to tell you about this great app. It's called the Neuchatel food analyzer. And it was going to be the answer for counting carbs on the go. You take a quick picture of your food and your phone. It delivers it the live operators at Neuchatel. And within three minutes, they promised an accurate within plus or minus 20%. So your judgment on accuracy may vary. carb count, users can also pay for upgraded access to more food information as well as ingredients and warnings for gluten allergens. How ever the product never made it out of beta testing, because that's when users found out that each meal came with snarky comments like, oh, that salad looks really delicious, good choice, or in my case, boom. Do you really need to eat that slice of cheesecake? Or Didn't you have a hamburger yesterday, further investigation showed that not only were the people behind this app particularly judgmental, they were also a division of a large Health Insurance Group. In other words, the neutral app would tell on you giving your insurance company valuable information about your eating habits. And once the word got out, the community went after it and it was scrapped. Stacey Simms 21:50 Bennett's telling us about the nutrit L Food app which basically told on the user and their eating habits to health insurance. Scott, what do you have? Scott Johnson 22:00 All right. Imagine using a laser to painlessly perforate your skin to get a drop of blood instead of having to use a metal needle. A company called a cell robotics created the laser net, which used laser energy to penetrate the skin. testing showed that adequate adequately trained patients could perform finger pinpricks with the laser device as easily and accurately as with land sets. But the laser required some difficult maintenance and instruction. And there was a noticeable odor of burning flesh with each test. Some user said that was a bit of a turn off, the price may have also kept this one from taking off. One LaserJet device cost about $500. Maybe because you could get close to a lifetime supply of regular lancets for that the laser printer is no longer available for purchase. Stacey Simms 23:08 All right, Laura, your products are the lay set, which gave you great accuracy without having to poke your finger with a needle however, the smell of burning flesh turns people off the Nutri Patel health food app, which told on you or the selfish up which was developed by teenagers to fool their parents who use share and nightscout which one is real, which one is the real product that we did makeup Unknown Speaker 23:36 was easy. As much as I would love to say it was the diet booty. I'm gonna go with number two, the neutral cow, Stacey Simms 23:46 then it is the neutral tell a real deal. Bennet Dunlap 23:49 I know it's fake. Unknown Speaker 23:53 But I want Bennet Dunlap 23:54 you to tell and diabetes, you're teaming up to sugars, but fake your carb counts. Stacey Simms 24:02 We're still gonna make the donation to spare Rosie your name because you were such a good sport. And this was so funny. But yeah, the lace set. Scott, did you know about that product before you read about that? Scott Johnson 24:16 A little bit. But it's like one of the many things that we often hear about as people living with diabetes where you know, these things come to market and you're like, Okay, this sounds so ridiculous that I'm just not going to even give it much brain bandwidth. So yeah, Stacey Simms 24:34 yeah. But it was a real product. I don't know how far along because it was it was I think it was a little bit before my time in the diabetes community. Laura, it sounded like you might have heard of it when we mentioned it again. Unknown Speaker 24:45 Yeah, it does sound familiar, something I may have read about. I think I just in my mind, I was thinking you know, the nature style app seems just like something that I could be going to market and just being a terrible disaster. I'll tell you what's funny. With my gut, Unknown Speaker 25:00 yeah, well, Stacey Simms 25:01 that's okay. But what's funny to guys is, I just saw this week that I'm not a app that hopefully reports back to anybody else. But that there are a few camera like devices that claim to show the nutritional information in your food. I mean, I think that's awesome. Yeah, very interesting stuff. I'm not sure how much we you know, we'd have to see some studies to trust it. But that That to me is amazing. Amazing. Absolutely. Well, Laura, thank you so much for playing as I said, we're still gonna make the donation to spare rose in your name. We really appreciate you taking part and thanks again. Bennet Dunlap 25:35 Thanks, Laura. Unknown Speaker 25:41 Scott, yeah. Oh, sorry. I Kerri Sparling 25:43 was gonna say I love the way you read yours. Because the entire time every time you said laser, I kept picturing Dr. Evil. Unknown Speaker 25:52 The laser, Unknown Speaker 25:54 sir. Awesome. I just Scott Johnson 25:56 had this, this image of like a waft of smoke coming up from her finger. You know. Unknown Speaker 26:07 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 26:13 And our last segment today, we want to give you guys a little bit of a quiz. I don't think you can really prepare for this. So I hope you didn't study too hard. But as we mentioned, Kerry writes the award winning blog six until me, and the title refers to a piece that she wrote from the point of view of diabetes, which came into her life at age six, six until me and I'll link that up at Diabetes, Connections calm, I'd urge you to read it. But today, we're going to find out how much you will know about diabetes, and years ending in six. For this quiz. You'll hear a fact about diabetes and choose which year it happened. I'm calling it which six will it be? as well, Kerri Sparling 26:56 I after I feel like I need to jump in because I've already screwed up the quiz. I was seven when I was diagnosed, I was using poetic license. I didn't think about SEO and I just now screwed up the entire podcast. So I'm sorry. My symptoms were when I was six, Unknown Speaker 27:13 but the actual diagnosis was seven. I'm gonna hang up now. Even if you're a really good person, I really like you. Stacey Simms 27:25 Thank you very much. I enjoyed the wordplay. So we're keeping it which six will it be? But I also like the facts. So that's great. All right. Each guest is going to get two questions. If a total of four of the six are answered correctly, we will make another $50 donation in a listeners name. In fact, carry might be paying that man, but we're gonna make a $50 donation to sparrows in elicitors name. Alright, so here we go. Which six will it be? next year? We're going to rename this sucker and we'll go from there. Alright, carry on. We're gonna start with you. The distinction? I know pressure, right? The distinction between what is now known as Type One Diabetes and type two diabetes was first clearly made and published. In what year 1876 1906 or 1930? Things quizzes Unknown Speaker 28:20 I totally didn't study on. I'm Unknown Speaker 28:22 going to go with, Kerri Sparling 28:22 would you say 1936? Unknown Speaker 28:24 Was that the last one? Unknown Speaker 28:26 That's the one I'm using. Unknown Speaker 28:28 Right? Correct. All right. Unknown Speaker 28:30 All right. Stacey Simms 28:33 Question number two, Scott. This is for you. Insulin, crystallization improved its purity and opened the door to the time action profiles such as extended insulin in what year was Insulet first crystallized? 1926 1946 or 1976? Unknown Speaker 28:49 Hmm. Scott Johnson 28:51 I'm gonna save the middle. The middle option. Unknown Speaker 28:54 Oh, I'm Stacey Simms 28:55 sorry. It's not 1946 it was 1926 Wow. Okay. 26. Right. Okay. Okay, Bennett, this one's for you. In what year did Eliot Jocelyn published the first edition of the treatment of diabetes at 96 1916 or 1936 96? I'm sorry, that's incorrect. 1916 is the incident we're Bennet Dunlap 29:21 dragging the team down. We're just Stacey Simms 29:24 which is kind of crazy because the you know, insulin wasn't commercially available until 1923. But that was when it was first published or carried Unknown Speaker 29:33 out Gary. Stacey Simms 29:38 When was the When was the first successful pink I've lost all control. When was the first successful pancreas transplant 1946 1966 or 1986. I'm sorry. Oh, Unknown Speaker 29:51 third guess Stacey Simms 29:53 that's right. Also could have been 1967. I guess. We got out When was the first wearable insulin pump invented? 1956 1966 or 1976. So, Scott Johnson 30:08 so I'm thinking about, like my mind is, is saying, define wearable? And I'm picturing that. That photo. We've all seen of that guy with that gnarly backpack. Stacey Simms 30:22 Oh, yeah, no, I don't you know what I have to, I'd have to check my notes. But I was talking really slowly there when I said, 1970s. I'm gonna Scott Johnson 30:32 say 1976. Then Stacey Simms 30:37 very nicely done. And I will, I will look that up and stick it in the show notes. Because I was thinking of the backpack guy too. Yeah, that's crazy. But I'm not quite sure what they I think by wearable they mean, like wearable with that behind your back. Portable, maybe even more so than that. Okay. And Ben at our last, I haven't been keeping track of who got what, right. 123 Bennett? When was NPH insulin released? 1946 1956 or 1966 56? Unknown Speaker 31:05 Yeah, Stacey Simms 31:10 I'm sorry. 1946. I should have I should have been a little bit more clear there, too. Okay, I think you guys got to share two and a half. Unknown Speaker 31:20 All right. Bennet Dunlap 31:22 This is the sixth quiz. And the only ones that count her from her because her podcast is six until me. Unknown Speaker 31:28 Yeah, but I only got one, right. And also, I don't have a podcast. Stacey Simms 31:37 I think we just need to move along. And we will make the $50 donation to spare rows. And I might give you each $50 to not have this. Bennet Dunlap 31:45 So I think what's important to take away from this is the diabetes is hard. Even the history is hard. Stacey Simms 31:53 And the numbers are always hard. It's not Bennet Dunlap 31:55 just a numbers game. Stacey Simms 31:58 Oh, my goodness. Well, thanks for playing along with that. That was quite ridiculous. And it was hard. Unknown Speaker 32:08 Oh, you're so positive. He's the nicest. Okay, Stacey Simms 32:14 so next year, which six? Will it be will turn into something with seven, but we'll figure it out Bennet Dunlap 32:20 studying next year? Stacey Simms 32:21 All right. It's kind of goofy. But it's all for a good cause. And I wish you all so well, this year with spare rose, I know it's gonna be a really big success. And it has been for the last few years. Anything else that you all want to add any other places that you're going to be appearing? Scott Johnson 32:36 Well, I think Stacy, we we really want to thank you for helping spread the sparrows message that's really great of you and will go a long way towards helping the cause. And we really, really appreciate that. So thank you. Unknown Speaker 32:50 Yeah, Kerri Sparling 32:51 I'll echo that. And also, I mean, I love that you you picked spare rose to kind of run with as far as raising awareness and raising some money. So I'm hoping that other organizations follow you're very, very good lead and and jump in with this. And it would be great to have people in the diabetes community and the broader patient community. Be part of this, this thing that's so important to us, Stacey Simms 33:12 Ben, any last words? Bennet Dunlap 33:13 No, not at all, at all. Stacey Simms 33:15 Excellent. All right. Well, once again, thank you all so very much for joining me Carrie Sparling. Scott Johnson Bennett, Dunlap, I appreciate your time and what you're doing for sparrows, end of the diabetes community. It's always great to talk to you. And we'll be in touch. I'm sure that there'll be a lot more sparrows news in the next two weeks. Thanks for being with me. Unknown Speaker 33:34 Thank you, Stacey. Unknown Speaker 33:41 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 33:46 If you would like to help or find out more about spare arose very easy. Just go to Diabetes connections.com and click on this episode homepage. As I said, I'll put some stuff out on social and I will link up to Karis book and Bennett's blog and Scott's blog as well. For more information. I'm going to also link you up to renza. Should Billy his blog because she is really taking the lead now I'm getting the word out about spear rose. We've had her on the show for other issues as well. But she wrote recently that in the eight years the campaign is run, they've raised more than $261,000. This is not a big corporate campaign. This is individual donations from, as they say on PBS, people like you, but I mean all kidding aside, that is 52,347 roses, which means that a whole year's worth of insulin has been provided to almost 4400 children and young people with diabetes and under resourced countries. renza wrote, I still get goosebumps just thinking about that. And renza I share that sentiment as well. Thank you for putting that together. Thank you for continuing to bang the drum for sparrows and get the message out and thank you all for donating look very simple as they said in the interview and I'm glad we were able to have some fun with it. But it is such a small thing that you can do the chemic such a serious difference. So if you can please help. And sometimes helping is just spreading the word I understand that everybody has the resources to give or your money is already earmarked for things. If you can share the Word that would be awesome. Thank you so much to my editor, john Buchanan's for audio editing solutions. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I'll see you back here next week. Until then, be kind to yourself. Benny 35:29 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All rounds avenged Transcribed by https://otter.ai

In gearing up for this epic unicorn episode I sincerely reflected on the impact becoming a diabetes advocate has had on my life. Two of the first people I discovered were Kerri Sparling and Scott Johnson. I had found my people! Reading their stories and watching them present at various conferences gave me the courage […]

Wait for it…   SPONSORS: Diathrive – Affordable diabetes management on your own terms. Use coupon code DDG to score a bottle of 50 strips!   DMP App –   Dr. Jody Stanislaw –   Dr. Topher Fox – “Helping people with type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes be the hero in their own lives.”   […] The post Podcast 100: Everything is Worth Giving a Shot | Scott Johnson & Kerri Sparling appeared first on Diabetes Daily Grind | Real Life Diabetes Podcast.

The new big-budget disaster movie Greenland comes out on streaming this week. It starts Gerard Butler as the central character, trying to save his family including his son who lives with type 1. Award winning screenwriter Chris Sparling had never put diabetes into one of his movies, but he knows all about T1D. His wife is Kerri Sparling, writer of the very popular, and now archived, blog SixUntilMe. Stacey & Chris talk about writing something personal into a movie and then handing over control to a different director and producer, as well as what it's like to try to make movies during COVID restrictions. Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Kerri Sparling interviews Chris for Children with Diabetes  In innovations –JDRF begins at-home early T1D detection. More on the new JDRF T1Detect program  This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android Episode Transcription (rough transcript, computer only - check back for proofed version) Stacey Simms  0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop, created for people with diabetes by people who have diabetes by Gvoke HypoPen, the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom.   Announcer  0:21 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  0:27 This week, there's a new movie all about a big global disaster and it features a main character with type one. award winning screenwriter Chris Sparling had never put diabetes into one of his movies. And he was a bit concerned about how it would all turn out.   Chris Sparling  0:41 I became so in a way overprotective of getting it right. And it being portrayed right because the last thing I wanted to do was to finally incorporate diabetes into a movie of mine and for it to end up being portrayed wrong.   Stacey Simms  0:55 Many of you already know Chris, sort of his wife Kerri Sparling wrote the very popular blog six until me for almost 15 years. We talk about diabetes in the movie and at home and about the entertainment business during this time of COVID in innovations JDRF begins at home early T1D detection. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. I am so glad to have you here. I am your host Stacey Simms and we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes by sharing stories of connection. Something different This week, we're going to talk about Greenland. This is a movie it's releasing in the US on video on demand it stars Gerard Butler and Marina Bakkerin who you probably know from the Deadpool movies. I put the trailer in the Facebook group and Diabetes Connections of the group. But the basic plot is that these are estranged parents, maybe they'll get back together, but they are working on their marriage just as a world ending cosmic disaster happens. And wouldn't you know it, their son has type one diabetes, so diabetes, type one insulin, this all becomes a plot point. Now we've talked about this a lot before so many films and TV shows have gotten diabetes exactly wrong. But Greenland has a big advantage. And that is as you heard in that opening tease, and that screenwriter Chris Sparling, whose wife lives with type one, we will get to Chris in just a moment. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by one drop and getting diabetes supplies is a pain. Not only the ordering and the picking up but the arguing with insurance about over what they say you need and what you really need. Make it easy with one drop. They offer personalized test strip plans plus you get a Bluetooth a glucose meter test strips lancets and your very own certified diabetes coach. Subscribe today to get test strips for less than $20 a month delivered right to your door no prescription or co pays required. One less thing to worry about not that surprising when you learn that the founder of one drop lips with type one, they get it one drop gorgeous gear supplies delivered to your door 24 seven access to your certified diabetes coach, learn more, go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the one drop logo. My guest this week is an award-winning screenwriter. He is someone that I've never met, but I feel like I kind of know because for many years I and many of you read about him in Kerry Sparling’s blog SixUntilMe. Kerri spent more than 14 years writing about her life with type 1 diabetes which included meeting and marrying Chris, who has been featured in blog posts about kids and family and everything you would expect. Kerri has stepped back from the blog to pursue other projects in her own writing. And Chris has a big movie coming out this week as this episode airs, Greenland, which debuts on American streaming this week. Chris, thank you so much for joining me. Welcome to the show.   Chris Sparling  3:53 Thank you. Thank you for having me.   Stacey Simms  3:55 It's great to have you. I feel it. As I said, I feel like I kind of know you. So I appreciate you kind of taking the leap and coming on not a movie or writing podcast, but a diabetes podcast. So this should be really fun. What made you decide I mean, you've been writing movies for an awfully long time. What made you decide to put diabetes?   Chris Sparling  4:14 You know, it's something I've been wanting to do for a while this movie presented a pretty unique opportunity for me to do it for a couple of reasons. One, the movie is the first of what's called Greenland. And it's about an incoming asteroid that's going to hit Earth or comet, it's going to hit Earth. It's this existential threat that everyone on earth faces. So kind of by nature of that alone, there's a ticking clock built into the movie, right? It's just when this thing's going to hit you're trying to get to the bunkers in Greenland. I tried to get there safely and survive. And so on the macro level there is that that large ticking clock at play, but the movie itself is different than say, deep impact or Armageddon in that it operates more on a personal level than those two movies do. You know it's not a movie checking in with what the government's doing to try to up the asteroid or anything like that, it's really more like the movie, the impossible if anyone listening ever saw that it's a great movie. And it's all to do with seeing it through this one particular family's lens, how they're going to survive this, this Cataclysm. So built into that I wanted to have a more personal, it's a more personal story. And I'd like the idea of having a more personal ticking clock as well. And so the son in the movie has type one. And now that's not to say the only reason why I gave him type one is to say, oh, that'd be a cool narrative device is to add yet another ticking clock. But it also quite honestly, it just, as I said, at the beginning of this long winded answer is that it gave me You know, I've been wanting to do it for a while, you know, Kerri and I have been together for a very long time. So I've seen type one up close and personal for a very long time. And, you know, I think it's kind of, it's somewhat misunderstood, if not even known condition by a lot of people. So it was, you know, I'm kind of hesitant to use the word educate, because I'm not really trying to do that, but maybe just shine a light on it a little bit. And, you know, this was a, an opportunity to do that on a, I guess, a large screen, or one of your house.   Stacey Simms  6:08 But I'm really curious, as you said, This isn't a movie where you're going to take time to actually do a formal education about type one, just as I wouldn't expect a formal education about a comment hitting the earth, and you know, what would happen, but you do have to explain these things. And I'm curious, you know, how do you work that in, you know, I assume we'll see things like injections or a pump or something like that. But was it difficult to kind of write it into the fabric of the story without, you know, Hey, everybody, we're gonna talk about diabetes.   Chris Sparling  6:34 Now, it was, to a certain extent, because, you know, as you will know, it's diabetes, you know, it's sometimes can fly a bit under the radar. You know, I recently, it was kind of bizarre to do it. But it's fun, I did it, I did an interview with Kerri. And so we were talking like you and I are talking now. And as I told her, then, and I don't always know when she's low, I don't always know when she's high, you know, things are beeping and everything else. And sometimes she takes on a certain characteristics, when that's going on. And I do know, or if I see you're sweeping a bunch of juice or whatever, but like, but sometimes I just don't know. And so to kind of to represent that on screen is difficult, because if you try to go too far in one direction, or the other, it may start to feel very false and forced, and almost cartoonish. And I say 100%, didn't want to do that. But if you go too subtle with it, which diabetes can sometimes be a rather subtle condition, you know, at times, and, you know, if you do that, then it just, it doesn't register for the audience at all. So to kind of dramatize that, what I did was I had the boy, the young boy in the in the movie, let's take one, I gave him a pump. And, you know, to kind of develop a shorthand with the audience, right out of the gate, there's a scene early on in the movie, where Gerard Butler who started in the movie, he's seeing that basically, he's been away, he, his wife had marital problems, and he's kind of they're trying to work it out, he and his wife now and he's coming back, he hasn't seen his son in a little while. And you see, there's a nice tender scene between him and his son, where he notices the pump, the insulin pump, and he says, you know, you know, basically, there's something to the effect of I do like that better than the shots. And you know, just kind of getting it across to the audience, someone who may not be as familiar with it as you are. Or I might be what's like, oh, okay, I get, you know, I can understand that you're certain things, I have a certain amount of knowledge about diabetes. So yeah, it's not, it's small things like that along the way, I've no doubt there will still be things that some people watching, it won't fully kind of hook on to, and they won't fully get. But at the same time, I think there might be elements of it that people watching might be like, Oh, I had no idea. I had no idea that having diabetes would require something like that. Or even to say, the immediacy and the importance of insulin, it kind of where I spoke earlier about this massive macro level existential threat that they're facing. But they still have to get to these bunkers in Greenland, if they're going to survive. And there becomes a situation where this boy get he needs his insulin, because he gets separated from it. And it's like, well, yeah, the large scale goal here remains, but if we don't get you there safely, and again, I mean, just maybe telling maybe to a certain degree, informing the audience who might not know that insulin is not just something like, again, you take it whenever you don't know, I don't know what some people might think, like, you just take it once in a while you take it as you feel like it or I don't know, whatever the misconception might be,   Stacey Simms  9:09 that we eat a cupcake, you need your insulin, right? (laughs)   Chris Sparling  9:12 Yeah, yeah. I think if nothing else, maybe it'll open, not open people's eyes. That's actually wrong, especially maybe just kind of illuminate the topic a bit for some people.   Stacey Simms  9:19 You know, again, I said at the beginning, I'll probably say a few times. I know very little about the industry, the movie industry and and what it takes to write a movie and produce and get, but I would imagine that and you've done projects before, where you've been involved in every step, right, you've written and then you've produced it, or you've been more involved. But with this, you you wrote it as my understanding, and what happens after you kind of hand off your baby because the director can change things, right. The actors have to change things. I guess I'll ask it both ways. First about the diabetes. Did they get it right the way you had hoped? And then we can talk about the movie?   Chris Sparling  9:53 Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, I mean, first, even before diabetes, yes, that always happens. I mean, I've directed movies, I produce movies, all of which have been ones that I've written. So, you know, in those instances, I have obviously quite a bit of control over what the final movies gonna look like in this instance, having just written it. In other movies I've only written, you know, there's always an understanding that when you hand it off, essentially, you know, your depends on the project, quite honestly. I mean, sometimes just as the screenwriter, I am still very much involved with the production because the director or the producer probably see the value of having the person conceived it but but with this, I was involved but not see, like, on a day to day level, that's for sure. Look for the diabetes of it all. You know, I was happy with it. And I was, there were a couple days when I was on set. And, you know, there was I just happened to be there. One of the days they're shooting a scene in in the grocery store and use the sons, they're shopping with his dad, and he's like, Hey, can I get some juice in the dad's like, yeah, sure, go get some. And I remember talking to the directors like Rick, listen, he's like, I was like, you know, my wife generally doesn't drink juice for fun. I'm not I mean, again, I know. She perfectly well, I should be no problem. She could if she wanted to just you know, but I was just I became so in a way over protective of getting it right. And it being portrayed, right, because the last thing I wanted to do was to finally incorporate diabetes into a move your mind and for it to end up being portrayed wrong. But in talking with Rick, he was like, No, no, it's cool. You know, I guess he was, meanwhile, he had his friend on speed dial who was the parent of a child of type one. He's like, No, no, I talked to them. I've consulted with them over and over again. And they said they get no, they let their child have juice if they want it and everything else I was like, and like, on an intellectual level, it made perfect sense to me. But I was I mean, I was kind of like waiting that we hold on a second rate bumps, you know, so to fully answer the question, I think the director, the producer was I think they did a really good job. I think people watching the movie and will it be 100%? Right? I don't know. I mean, people might see it and say, Hey, I don't know if I agree with that. Or not. But everyone's situation in their approach is different. But I could say if you kind of widen the aperture a bit and take a look at it, I think people are gonna I think it does it handles it accurately. For the most part.   Stacey Simms  12:02 I would have been like Gatorade zero, and then he can get a juice box for later.   Chris Sparling  12:08 Yeah, I mean, that's I'm saying like, everyone's situation is different. Right?   Stacey Simms  12:11 So let's talk about movies for a little bit. Was this your dream job? Was this something you always wanted to do?   Right back to Chris in just a moment. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. And you know, I've talked about this before, but it's still striking to me when Benny was a little, you know, you give your kid a bath almost every single day or he goes swimming all summer long. And I always noticed his fingertips, you know, they were poked so much, that they were full of these little holes up and they just looked really awful. Especially when they got wet. It was almost 16 I'm not looking at his hands very much anymore. But man, when we go to the endocrinologist and Dr. V looks at his fingertips, they are normal. We've been using the Dexcom for so long. Now it was seven years. And with every new iteration, we have done fewer and fewer finger sticks. The latest generation the Dexcom g six eliminates finger sticks for calibration and diabetes treatment decisions. Just thinking about doing the 10 finger six a day we used to do chasing my toddler around, it makes me so glad that Dexcom has helped us come so far. It's an incredible tool. If your glucose alerts and readings from the G six do not match your symptoms or expectations. Use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions. learn more, go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo. Now back to Chris and he's talking about whether this is still his dream job. Does he still love working in the movies?   Chris Sparling  13:38 Yeah, 100% I mean, I started like eons ago, I started as an actor. And I lived in Los Angeles for several years doing that. And while I liked that, and sure, it would have been great to have ultimately done that it just wasn't really it's a really, really tough racket, trying to be doing the struggling actor thing. You know, it's fine when you're really young doing it. But at a certain point, you just feel like, wow, I have like no agency, I've almost no control over my future. You know, it's just really, really tough. So I just kind of felt I needed a little more control over my career. And so yeah, so to be involved in this industry in any capacity was was always my goal.   Stacey Simms  14:16 How does it work these days? I mean, people will say, well, you can write from anywhere. But I've got to imagine that the whole industry, if not moving slower, shut down. I mean, 2020 it's been a mess for everybody. But from a filmmaking standpoint, how did this even get done? When was I guess we'll talk about Greenland, but in general, like, how are things getting made right now?   Chris Sparling  14:36 I mean, yeah, Greenland was all written, shot well before the pandemic, but at the same time post production, it got shut down for a while in post production. So it didn't get completed, completed until in the midst of the pandemic, you know, and then as far as the release of it, yeah, I mean, it's supposed to be in theaters two or three different times, then take a push back and push back. But separate from that, you know, as 2020 is going on. I've actually had two other movies shoot during the pandemic, I just had one that wrapped two days ago in Albuquerque. And so for me personally, it's been a, you know, again, I mentioned earlier, but I can't complain people have like real, you know, things there, especially during 2020 people have had really awful things that they've kind of faced, I'm not certainly gonna, I'm not going to complain about having a movie pushback or not being able to visit set because of COVID. But yeah, I mean, it's been a bit of a bummer. That's, you know, I'm still human, like, it was a bit of a bummer to, to have two movies that, you know, I wrote and produced, and I was basically producing from, you know, one was an Ontario as a movie called Lakewood that I did with Naomi Watts. And then a movie that I just did born in Albuquerque that wrapped two days ago. And it's like, I was watching real feed, like real time feeds from the camera, in my house, in my home office. And my situation of you know, being very protective in particular carry, you know, having type one, and so we are, we're very, very locked down here and the COVID of it all. And so me going to set me being on set just wasn't really an option for me. So   Stacey Simms  15:58 that's interesting, though, I had no idea that you know, things, I guess a few we've seen TV shows, we've seen things being filmed a little bit here and there. But it didn't occur to me that full scale production or partial scale production, because you were in your house looking at things was going on. I don't even know what to ask, are they putting their masks on until they like jump in front of the camera? Is it locked down? Is it just a free for all? Because?   Chris Sparling  16:18 No, no, definitely not? No, it's it is I mean, I really wish, you know, for other industries that are still out there, and people are working, you know, maybe it's just not feasible, but the film industry to its credit, and television industry, they really have some great protocols in place. I mean, it's their zones that I like, I'm not going to get into like all the like, they were really, really strict measures. Because again, I mean, there are a lot of unions involved to this screen actors, guild writers, Guild, Directors Guild Producers Guild, so they're very protective of their membership for, you know, in the first place. And there's regular testing and everything else. And again, that's a luxury not I mean, not a lot of people have that. And then it depends on the size of the production. I mean, if you're talking about a big, let's say, Marvel movie, I mean, you could, in that instance, they're going to probably create a massive bubble, wherever and like they rent out an entire hotel, or like they do a Mission Impossible, where they literally rented out an entire cruise ship. And just everyone lived on the cruise ship off the coast of Norway while they were shooting there. So like, I mean, that that wasn't   Unknown Speaker  17:16 like that. But that makes sense. If you can afford Yeah, but   Chris Sparling  17:18 if you can afford it, yeah, I mean, it's budget plays a big role. But it's really, really difficult as it should be. Because it's there are people at risk. And yeah, the actors in particular, because, you know, when you're rolling the cameras, you can't have masks on anymore. So you have to be really, really strict and in how you go about your productions.   Stacey Simms  17:36 What do you think is going to happen with entertainment? In the next few years, I was having this conversation with a friend in terms of are we going to see COVID and people in masks and kind of that real life reflection in the next couple of years in sitcoms, where people are trying to reflect back to us what we've been through this year? Or do you think we just need a couple of years away from it? Before we can start seeing?   Chris Sparling  17:57 It's interesting, I've had that exact conversation with a lot of people, where is it going to be in stories? Is it going to be that you pretend COVID just never happened? Or do you incorporate it, even if it's not just like a major part of your story, it's just an element of life that everyone is familiar with it. So it's not if you just mentioned all they get someone gets sick during COVID, a couple years ago, you just off handed say it and there's no explanation because everyone in the world is going to know what that is. So it's either, you know, in I'm of the mind where, when we're out of this, I want to be out like I don't I don't want to look back on this and try to make it I certainly don't want to make it part of other people or right now. It's you see people trying to make pandemic movies and everything else. And I'm like, I want no part of that. I want no part of that at all. And that's fine. I'm not judging them for maybe wanting to I'm just saying for myself. Yeah, I'm hopefully looking to the future here and want to get past this and move on.   Stacey Simms  18:51 I'm with you. I think we'll know for sure if like a rom com next Christmas makes money and they're able to do like a meet cute with COVID. emasculate that takes off, then we'll know but I don't think it's going to.   Chris Sparling  19:03 Yeah, and I know like I my wife watches this is awesome. You know, I I saw a couple times where they're wearing masks on the show sort of there now, and that's fine. I mean, I'm not judging it. I'm just saying for myself,   Stacey Simms  19:15 I would but I'm with you. I want to be entertained right now. I'm not maybe as we get past it, we can reflect for but I could be meant, you know, it'll be interesting to see because there are different opinions about it for sure. Looking back to Greenland, I wanted to ask you, why did you give diabetes to the kid in the movie, and not the wife character? Was there? Was there a thought process there?   Chris Sparling  19:38 It's tough to say I mean, don't really recall. I mean, probably wrote this movie by now maybe four years ago, years ago. I don't know. If I decided at this moment. I'm going to make a movie and give a character in a family that type of diabetes would I make? I don't know. I mean, maybe, maybe again, just kind of speaking to this. Again, I'm hesitancy an opportunity to make some seemed like I was on a crusade and it wasn't I'm not on it at all. But like, I think there are a lot of people I'm gonna be frank, I don't think a lot of people know that kids can get diabetes. I just don't think that they, I think a lot of people, I think when they just hear the term diabetes, I think they mean type, they just assume it means type two, they don't even think that there is a type one or type two, they just think there was diabetes, and to maybe see a child, the 78 year old child with diabetes, maybe that kind of will at least, I don't know, in a waste stop some, someone long enough to say, Well, wait a minute, I never knew that. Little kids can have diabetes. For example,   Stacey Simms  20:35 I mentioned in the intro this interview that, you know, I kind of knew of you knew you a little bit from Kerry's blog, my son said he was 14 years ago. So she'd been writing the blog for a while when he was diagnosed and was one of the first things I found and like many people, because very, very popular blog, you know, I read everything she wrote, I feel like I knew so much about Kerri. And it was a huge help to me, even though I have a son. And it was something my spouse who has type one, what was that like for you? Was that like a different world kind of like, okay, Kerry's writing her blog, but you were mentioned it we knew about your family we do about things that are going on? I'm curious what your perspective on six and told me is,   Chris Sparling  21:11 I mean, I've always tried to be as supportive as I could with everything that she's doing in the community and elsewhere and on the blog. Yeah, that was no different. I think it speaks more to just how the internet itself has changed. Overall, we're, I mean, she started blogging when people didn't even, like, I want to say she was one of maybe two or three bloggers who were blogging about diabetes at the time. And this was, you know, that's at a time when the internet, like blogs were pretty new, and people weren't generally sharing, they weren't comfortable sharing personal information online, so much. And nowadays, that's all the internet is. And so like, so it's kind of a different space. And it was, it was a much more. You know, it wasn't it wasn't the juggernaut it is now I don't mean her blog, I mean, just like any kind of blog, or social media account, or anything else like that. So her writing personal details about, say, our relationship, and then our, you know, our marriage, and then our then our daughter at first, it just seemed we were okay with it for a while. And then just again, speaking for us, this is no comment on anyone else who might be doing this now, currently, but it's just for us, we just kind of decided that, you know, just wanted to be a little more closed off with the personal stuff in that way. So that's why if you go back, I'm sure in her blog, maybe when you started. I mean, there was a I remember a lot of stuff we she would talk about the stuff she and I were doing is kind of like a young couple going into New York City and hanging out. And, you know, so because it was kind of it was just kind of fun, and had almost like, you know, almost had like an early Facebook field where you just felt like, Hey, I'm writing this to my friends and family. Right? You know, as opposed to, you know, you write this stuff, and then all of a sudden, it's just, it's fodder for anyone to comment on or anything, I don't know. And it just became, I don't know, if it's a conscious decision or not, it just became more of like a Yeah, just to kind of pull back a little bit in that way on her on her blog and stuff.   Stacey Simms  22:57 Yeah, for me, it was almost like a teachable thing in terms of not just diabetes and learning about what an adult perspective was, but really did help me a lot gain perspective. And even when my son was two, it was also a really good kind of template almost in terms of sharing, because it did educate a lot of us along the way. Because that was before Facebook and social media. Really, I know, you're probably not gonna think about Facebook in college, and that was it. But I mean, for you know, in 2006 when I think she started as a five there was no social media really so right. It was a really good lesson in protecting your privacy, especially as it went on. But you know, it's it's a different world. People can't share enough some people. So isn't Greenland has been released, I believe in Europe and some other parts of the world because that's, I've seen it in some of the parenting Facebook groups. People have been chit chatting over it. Yeah. I asked if anybody had any questions for you. And most people just said, I loved it. But it scared me or like, Oh, my gosh, I didn't want to think about those kinds of things. But I did get a great comment from Sarah, who said, Stacy, can you tell Chris how much my nine year old son and I appreciate it? how accurate it was? Yeah, she has a question for you. She wants to know how difficult it was for you emotionally, to write something like this with so much personal experience from this disease that you've said it's been about four years, or maybe more since you actually wrote the script. But seeing as this really is something scary in terms of end of the world, and like a lot of parents I have like, Oh my gosh, if he's stranded or you know, it's even just like, it could be forgetting his diabetes back at the movies. It doesn't have to be a comet hitting the earth or plane crashes. Terrible. Yeah, we're all scared. Did you get emotional kind of writing this and thinking about carry? Yeah,   Chris Sparling  24:38 I mean, it's emotional. Now even watching again. For that reason. I think it's it. There's another and this is kind of what I was driving at with incorporating diabetes, where again, I didn't want it to seem like just some plot device. Like you said, it doesn't have to be a comet hitting the earth. It doesn't have to be a pandemic that we're all dealing with. But those things there's no Another whole layer for people living with diabetes or any chronic condition for that matter, any medical condition for that matter, it's it there is an another ongoing in a way unrelenting element to your life into the life of the people who care about you. You know, and that's, I think what I wanted to really portray is that it's like, again, even though these people are selected, and that's, you know, not giving away much they are among the very, very few people selected to go to these bunkers in Greenland. You know, someone made the joke recently, it's like, you know, Gerard Butler has saved the president so many times, it's only it's only fair that he's selected. But anyway, so they were and it's like, okay, that's, that's great. But like, that doesn't nothing changes it for at least as of current standards of medicine, nothing changes, the fact that this kid still needs his insulin, and it was emotional in that way. Because we've been there, you know, we've been in those instances, and I'm sure so many people listening have where sometimes stuff can get scary. You know, I talked about the subtlety of it before. And sometimes things can go from subtle or zero to 60 pretty fast. And that by itself, those moments are emotional when they're happening. And so to kind of to try to incorporate them into even something fake. I mean, you try your best to just make it feel real and realistic and kind of pour yourself into it as much as you can. So yeah, it's, it was a you know, so yes, sir.   Stacey Simms  26:19 I promise I will not get too nosy. And ask you lots of personal questions about Kerri. But I am curious, I don't talk to a lot of partners, spouses of partners and spouses of people with type 1 diabetes. And that's a different experience than being a parent or being a person with type one. I'm not gonna ask you to make a grand statement, you know, what have you learned? or What advice do you have? But I am curious, when you met Kerri. And this is a long time ago, as you said, I'm, I don't know if you can remember. What did you think about diabetes at the time? Were you really worried about dating and then getting very serious with someone who had something like this? Do you remember?   Chris Sparling  26:55 Yeah, I do. I had a very limited, very limited exposure to type one, only because a good buddy of mine, he had been for a little while dating a girl with type one, prior to me meeting Kerri. And the standout thing was that she was low one time, and she threw a pumpkin at him. So like, that was my introduction to type 1 diabetes, that sometimes when you're low, like you can kind of like your behavior can be you know, not like, I don't know, something you come out of here, we'd like you to depending and, and she just happened to get like, very aggressive for some reason that that is, and I was like, Wow, so that was a completely rough and probably ill informed introduction to diabetes. And then I met Kerri. And, you know, thankfully, she never threw a pumpkin at me. But But yeah, I mean, it's so I learned it a lot from just being with her and being around her and see how she manages the disease. But I mean, this, the thing is that I met her God, I mean, she must have had it for about 18 years, 15 years, some anywhere from 15 to 1819, whatever it was, before I met her, so she was very accustomed, you know, to dealing with this as an adult, because naturally got as a child, and then I should say, naturally, she got it as a child. So naturally, her mom and her dad, were helping her as a child, but then she, I met her as an adult. So she has several years of managing this disease on her own. And so it was kind of like I had to, you know, again, this is just specific to my relationship with Gary, I'm not trying to map this onto how other people do their thing. But like, I learned the boundaries in a way of like, what is the best way for me to be helpful in these situations. And even something simple, like I learned very early into this day, know that if carry is low, you have an instinct, when someone's not feeling well, for any reason. You're like, Oh, just sit down, sit out, you know, if you're feeling if you're feeling dizzy, whatever, she's the opposite. And then this is just her. She's the opposite. She doesn't want to she doesn't want to sit down. Because sitting down in a way, mentally allows it to settle in more for her. She, you know, she can't fully explain what she's saying. She's, like, I can't resist it, if I'm accepting it. And that, you know, again, it's not some woowoo thing. It just for her. That's it. So, like little things like that. Over the years, I've kind of and then bigger things over the years that I've come to say, all right, well, this is my role in this, I guess.   Stacey Simms  29:07 Getting back to screenwriting for just a moment. You know, there's a lot of I think a lot of people think that any job in the movies is super glamorous. And it's not as difficult as it is screenwriting has to be so difficult to me to think about. Because you're you're pretty much by yourself writing. But I'm curious. Do you have any advice? I mean, for anybody listening who would love to do what you were doing?   Chris Sparling  29:29 Yeah. Um, read screenplays. It's the best education you could possibly get. I mean, there are entire screenwriting programs. You could go spend a couple $100,000 on right now. And I'm not taking away the value of that but at the same time, I would put it right up there with just reading the screenplay a week.   Stacey Simms  29:46 How do you get a screenplay? Pardon my ignorance?   Chris Sparling  29:48 No, it's fine. I mean, just go online. Just Just go to Google and type movie screenplays and I'm sure like the vast majority of movies you've seen in like are you can read screenplays for   Stacey Simms  29:58 Is it still fun for you?   Chris Sparling  30:01 Yes, I this, I've been doing this for, like professionally for over 10 years now it's been my, my job. You know, just like anything else, things start to get a little old. I think for the next 10 years, I think I look forward more to writing and directing more as opposed to just writing. You know, I've directed a couple movies so far, but I want to do more of that I think in the next 10 years will say, yeah, I mean, I still love it. I love what I do. I feel very fortunate that I, you know, I tried for a very long time to break into this industry. And so like, I never lose sight of that. Yeah, I mean, there's certainly days that you just, it's just not happening. You're just trying and you're like, wow, I'm really awful at this. And so no, and, and other days, you're kind of like, Yeah, maybe. I think it's interesting, during, in the COVID of it all, like I've been, I remember, especially, you know, early early on in it, where everyone was on lockdown, and everyone's like, Oh, you must be getting so much done, you must be in so much writing done having all this time. And I was like, I can nothing done. I'm like, I can't get my head in the game at all. And that went on for a while, like creatively, I just couldn't get there. I guess, understandably, given the circumstance. But over time I was. It's gotten easier. I think more than anything. Now. It's just a time thing i'm sure Kerri would agree with this is that because of how we're doing things with, you know, with with us and our kids being you know, home from school, and that's just how we're doing it. It's just, there's a lot of us being here and having to having to kind of shuffle responsibilities back and forth. And so, you know, the amount of time I actually have, and that she has to take it worked on is that's pretty valuable commodity these days.   Stacey Simms  31:36 Yeah, no doubt. So before I let you go, is there anything that you can share with us that you're working on now, in terms of writing or things that haven't started yet?   Unknown Speaker  31:45 Yeah.   Chris Sparling  31:49 You can tell I, you know, I have a long gestating project. Basically, it's an adaptation of Stephen King's the talisman. I don't know if that one's ever going to happen, quite honestly. It's just I mean, it's something that it's it's Steven, not the name drop, but it's a Steven Spielberg project that he has been trying to do for like 35 years, there have been like, I don't know how many iterations of it that just just kind of come together, then he changes his mind or it doesn't happen. And then he moves on and then tries again, and like 510 years later, so who knows if that this one will follow that same trajectory. But that's one that I've been working on for a while, and then and a couple other projects. And then I'm just I just started a new script of my own. So in other words, not like a writing a script or adapting a script for somebody else. Right. You know, it's one that I'm hoping is going to be my next directing project. So,   Stacey Simms  32:34 so yeah. Okay, so we will look for greenlit, I will put all the information in the show notes where people can find it. Anything that we should look for that might be like a diabetes community, in thing I mean, now I have to look for the juice in the grocery store.   Chris Sparling  32:47 Yeah, there's that scene. I mean, there's the pump scene. You know, there's the scene where, um, there's a lot of them. It's not like it doesn't it's not like some small facet of the movie. I mean, it's so   Stacey Simms  32:56 cool. The mom isn't trying to read six until me like the panel there's no like   Chris Sparling  33:01 easter egg thrown in. Right? Um, you know, it's interesting though, because the the LED with this there's Kari asked me this question when choosing interpretive me which again, which is kind of bizarre. She was like, Why? Why does she's even curious. In the movie, the boys wearing an old like Medtronic pump in? She's like, why that old pump? Why not like a more modern pump even more modern Medtronic, but I don't know, I mean, quite honestly, I mean, it's probably the props department that chose that one. And the director approved it. And then they're also clearance issues where you can't just use a product, right? You'd have to get approval from the company. And so I could find out, I'm sure, but still, what I do wonder, and I might have done the same thing had I directed movie is that old model is older model PUMPS LOOK more medical, they look like medical devices where a lot of the more you know, more modern pumps will say they look sleek, they look like cell phones, they look like you know, and so I think for an audience, if the if part of the effort here is to kind of maybe shine a light on this on this condition, this disease, you certainly don't want them to be confused, where they see something like well, what is that? I don't know, it's a phone or what is that? That and, and I think, you know, that's, I don't know what that is. I don't know if that's a fun fact, I don't know how you classify.   Stacey Simms  34:15 Now, that's exactly what I meant that sorry. When because when we look at the screen now we're all gonna be thinking like, wait a minute, because I know my audience, they're gonna pause it, they're gonna look at it, they're gonna zoom in if they can, and you know what pump is that? And that's, that's a really good reason why?   Chris Sparling  34:30 I don't think it's a fun fact, because I don't know if that's the right way. Right? It's like a fun speculation. There you go.   Stacey Simms  34:37 You know, we're bonkers that way we'd like to know. So we'll see what happens. Chris, thank you so much for joining me and you know, for for speculating and for sharing so much of your time. I really appreciate it. Oh, thank you.   Unknown Speaker  34:54 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  35:00 For more information about the movie, the trailer where you can watch it, all of that at the episode homepage at Diabetes connections.com, wherever you are listening, if you're listening on a podcast app, you can always come back to the homepage and find out all of the info. Not every app has a great way to see the show notes. You know, we're on Pandora and Spotify and apple and everyone's just slightly different. So I like to keep it at home base. We also have transcriptions for every episode this year. And we're starting to go back and add them for every episode. So I'm very excited about that. I will also link up the carry and Chris interview that he mentioned, because Kerri scooped me she got the interview first. It was really fun. I interviewed my husband before for this show, and it's a little bit of a weird feeling. But it was a lot of fun to watch them and I recommend that especially if you're a big fan like I am of six until me and of Kerri. Up next we're going to talk about this new at home test kit from jdrf. First Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Jeevan hypo pin, almost everyone who takes insulin has experienced a low blood sugar and that can be scary. A very low blood sugar is really scary. And that's where evoko pen comes in. It's the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar gvl caple pen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle. That means it's easy to use in usability studies. 99% of people were able to give g vo correctly. I'm so glad to have something new, find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the G Volk logo g book shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma. Visit chivo glucagon.com slash risk.   In innovations this week, where we talk about the latest and greatest in the technology sectors and new stuff in our community, I want to tell you about jdrf new T one detect this just came out last week as you're listening to this episode, if you're listening to it when it first airs, and T one detect is jdrf snoo screening education and awareness program. So basically, it's screening you for type 1 diabetes auto antibodies, I'm going to read a little bit from the jdrf website. They say until now t Wendy symptoms and a diagnosis often come out of the blue. Today, families can use testing to detect t Wendy early so they can plan and prepare with one blood test anyone at any age can find out before symptoms even occur. If they are at risk for developing to end, the test is easy, simple and can help save lives. So this sounds great. This sounds a lot like trial net, who we've talked to before, my understanding is that it's different. It's not quite the extensive test. And by that I mean, it looks like a different test, it's a finger prick, and you send the blood samples back to the lab. And then you get your results back. And they say you get next steps as to what they mean and what to do. So I'm hoping that that also means counseling of I haven't seen anything about that yet. Because, you know, that's the only that's one thing about doing these tests, any health tests by mail, right, you want to get the results. And then you want to have somebody sitting next to you telling you what you do with those results. So you're not feeling alone. You know what, if you have these antibodies, you don't know what they mean, you know what I mean? When you click through the website, it actually takes you to enable bio sciences, T one D auto antibody testing, and that's from whom you actually order the kit, you make an account with the company, you can check through your options on privacy, you can decide if you want to make your results available to jdrf. You can say Do I want bio sciences to have my personal health information, there's a lot you can do here. The tests are not free is my understanding. But I didn't see anything about cost anywhere on the website. However, I didn't get far enough through it to actually order the tests. And what's interesting here is that T one detect will be available to people whether or not they have a family member who has type one diabetes, and that's different from most of the other screenings, including trial net. So a lot of questions here. I have reached out to jdrf they have said that they're you know more than willing to come on. So now it's just a question of scheduling. So I'll be putting in the Facebook group Diabetes Connections of the group when we are ready to go with that, and I will certainly solicit your questions and we will get them answered. My biggest question is, why make this separate? jdrf I believe already helps fund trialnet. So why now fund something different when trauma needs money? So I'm going to find out I'm sure we'll learn much more. I am definitely in favor of more research and more testing because boy, if we could test everybody for type one, we could learn so much more about possible prevention and treatment and all that good stuff. So don't misunderstand my questions here for doubter cynicism. I'm just really curious about this new program and of course, we will find out more programming note for the rest of the year. I'll be honest, I'm not really sure we have about two weeks left to go for 2020 and I do have the shows planned out. We're going to do wait wait, don't poke me the Game Show that I aired at friends for life. If you didn't go to that winter conference, you'll be able to hear the show and you'll actually be able to watch it, I'll put it on YouTube the same time the podcast goes live. That's always a lot of fun. And then I have another panel that we taped earlier this year about the type one and type two community with some familiar faces to many of you. And that will be the last episode of 2020. However, as I've said before, there's always some interesting stuff at the end of the year. And if we're able to jump in with some more breaking news, or something really interesting, comes up, you know, it's not like I'm traveling This year, we're all sitting around on zoom. So we will bring you you know, any breaking news that happens in our community, and I basically just reserve the right to throw a new show in here or there. But we are almost done. Holy cow this year, and not much for reflection. I'm not quite sure that I'll do a lot on 2020 I think I need to get a little further away from it and further toward Good Stuff and Being with you all the view more in person before I can really properly reflect but I gotta tell you, I am glad to see 2021 on the horizon. thank you as always to my editor jump you can. It's from audio editing solutions. And thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I'll see you back here next week. Until then, be kind to yourself.   Benny  41:18 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All rounds avenged   Transcribed by https://otter.ai

It's our annual game show episode! This year, because of all the Zoom calls, we decided to play the HollyWood Squares! Of course, since this is a show for the Friends for Life Conference (FFL, pronounced Fiffle) we're calling it The FFL-Wood Squares! Huge thanks to our panelists: Kerri Sparling, Edward Hawthorne, Dr. Henry Rodriguez, Chris "The Grumpy Pumper," Moira McCarthy, Renza Scibilia, Oren Liebermann & Cherise Shockley. Learn more about them in the FFL Conference Program Check out Stacey's new book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android Transcription In The Works

Lilly Diabetes announced they were getting into the pump and pen business almost two years ago. How’s it going? We get an update from Marie Schiller, Vice President of Product Development for Connected Care and Insulins at Eli Lilly – Connected Care is what they’re calling this platform of pumps and pens – now to be integrated with Dexcom. Check out Stacey's new book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! We’ll also have a bit of an update on some other pump companies’ plans for the near future.. bolus from your phone?! In TMSG a big fish, a hula hoop winner and a chance meeting over a foot? Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android Episode Transcript:   Stacey Simms  0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop created for people with diabetes by people who have diabetes by Real Good Foods, real food, you feel good about eating, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom.   Announcer  0:21 This is diabetes connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  0:27 This week, Eli Lilly announced they were getting into the pump and pen business almost two years ago. How's it going? We get an update. And of course I asked about price and access.   Marie Schiller  0:38 Look, we're not here for the sake of having this innovation sit on a shelf somewhere, not why I'm here. It's not why others are here. And so it is really important for us to be laser focused on how people act. So   Stacey Simms  0:53 that's Marie Schiller, Vice President of Product Development for connected care and insulins at Lilly We'll also have a bit of an update on some other pump companies plans for the near future. Well, let's sing from your phone in Tell me something good a big fish, a hula hoop winner, and a chance meeting over a foot. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.   Welcome to another week of the show. I am your host Stacey Simms, so glad to have you along for another week. As always, we aim to educate and inspire by sharing stories of connection. My son was diagnosed 13 years ago with Type One Diabetes. My husband lives with type two. I do not have diabetes, but I have a background in broadcasting. And that's how you get the podcast. I'm excited to catch up with Lilly. I know a lot of people don't want to hear anything from them until they address the price of insulin. And I do understand that I want to be sensitive to that. And I definitely asked Marie all about that. Even though she has nothing to do with the price of insulin but she doesn't work at Lilly and this system. I can't be really separated from that, let's be honest. But I also think I have a responsibility to share what's going on in terms of diabetes technology, and Lilly plans to be a big player in this space. So that's what the interview is all about. We'll be talking about their system. We'll be talking about their partnership with Dexcom and other things as they move forward. Before we get to that, I want to thank Kerri Sparling and the folks at children with diabetes. We replayed the interview that Kerri did with me this was on their YouTube channel and then last week in the kind of the mini episode although it wasn't really a mini we replayed the audio from that interview. It's always a little weird for me to be on the other side of the microphone, but it's always a lot of fun to I bring it up not to hammer on the interview again, if you wanted to see it or listen, you know, you know where to find it and I will link it up in this episode. But because they are doing a contest. The contest is open until March 20. And to enter you do have to email them so I will link that As well, it's over on the children with diabetes a website. But all of these links will be in the episode homepage. They're giving away a paperback of the world's worst diabetes mom and the audio version. So I'd love for you to go and enter and find out more on their websites. Speaking of the book, I am having such a blast on the book tour that I'm doing this year. You know, we'll see how it goes. Obviously there are some health scares out there right now. And I'm not sure that all the events are going to stay as scheduled for right now. They're all on the books that's on the website as well. And if you're interested in the world's worst diabetes mom, that's an easy place to find out more but I have to share with you that I got a great note from a woman in Australia who listens to the show and you know, has read my book she bought it you can get it on Amazon really in so many countries now print on demand is absolutely amazing. And she got it in Australia and she reached out to me because her local group wants to do a bulk order. So we are doing that. And if you have a situation like that where you would like a little large number of books for your group. please reach out to me directly. You don't have to just buy it on Amazon for the full retail price. I am happy to work with you. My publisher has given me some ways to do this. That really makes sense. It's an amazing thing to think about people all over the world reading the world's worst diabetes mom. It didn't say America's worst diabetes mom. So I guess I have to stand by that now. All right. We will have the interview with Marie Shiller from Lilly coming up in just a moment. But first let me tell you about Real Good Foods Diabetes Connections is brought to you by them. Have you tried their cauliflower crust Margarita pizza. They have a full size and a personal size as well. So yummy. It is low carb high protein real simple ingredients. And you know you gotta be careful because some cauliflower crust pizzas are made with corn starch. You know rice flowers, processed grains. And if you're looking for something that is 100% grain free and gluten free, this is what you're looking for. I love how Real Good Foods keeps creating Eating new products, they keep coming out with new yummy foods for us. It's the kind of thing where you as soon as you don't feel like cooking, sometimes you want the convenience. And when you go for convenience, you really don't want to sacrifice nutrition, right? I mean, you don't want to just pull out some junk food. I love Real Good Foods, it tastes terrific. And the people behind them are solid. They get involved in our community. They listen to what we have to say. It's really nice, find out more, go to diabetes, connections comm and click on the Real Good Foods logo.   My guest this week is Marie Schiller Vice President of Product Development for connected care and insolence at Lilly. Two years ago, I was part of a group of writers and reporters from the diabetes community invited to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to take a look at Lilly's entrance into the pump and pen market to give feedback on those plans and to hear from their partners. We did an episode back then and I'll link up what I and others wrote at the time. No pictures still of what they show. Very briefly that day, they showed us kind of the prototype, but it is a tiny pump. It's kind of like a fat little disc. It's much smaller than an omni pod pod. It's maybe about the size of the tee sport that tandem is coming out with. I'm actually going to talk more about that after this interview a pump update from tandem some news from Omni pod. We'll get to that after this interview, but I'll put up some photos of the T sport, but this is thinner than that the Lilly pump is just a small thin disc. It is tubed. So the idea is that you can stick it to your body or use longer tubing and put it in your pocket. We do talk about that. It'll fit in the palm of your hand very easily. Of course we do talk about the price of insulin, and what that means for access of anything coming from Philly. So here's my interview with Marie Schiller. Marie thanks for talking to me. I'm excited to catch up. It's been about almost two years since we've MIT in Cambridge, thanks for coming on the show.   Marie Schiller  7:02 Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be back.   Stacey Simms  7:05 All right, so give us the update. I know we're going to talk about the partnership with Dexcom and some other things that Lilly is working on. But when we last left this episode, the last time we talked at least in person, you over talking about the device that Lilly had been working on, can you give us an update on that   Marie Schiller  7:25 I can and maybe to be helpful Stacy just to remind the audience of what we've been working on. So Lilly has a personalized diabetes management system that is incorporating inform delivery devices, software and analytics. And obviously that will be combined with glucose data and other contextual information in order to hopefully to improve diabetes management. We have two parts of that system. So we obviously have a pen based platform where we'll be using our refill disposable insulin pen, with data coming in from glucose monitoring devices and be able to combine that with different elements of care in that platform. And then the pump based platform, which would be a hybrid closed loop system, integrating the the pump itself in with a continuous glucose monitoring and an algorithm as well. So that's the journey we started on. I think we were we had not just kicked off the program when we last talked a couple years ago, but it was certainly early in the development program. It's been a frankly, an awesome couple of years is advancing both of those areas we had started I know when we last talked, but with the development agreement with Dexcom, which we have continued to advance our relationship with Dexcom and now have entered into a global commercialization agreement with them. We continued our clinical trials with the pump based system we'll be talking about Some of the first clinical data will be shared this coming February at the the conference in Madrid at TCU. And on the connected pen side we have, so we secured a supplemental drug approval for the pen that will be compatible with the personalized diabetes management system. And we're in the midst of working with the FDA on the other components of the system that we will need to bring forward and launch the entirety of that integrated solution.   Stacey Simms  9:35 So there's a lot of moving parts, there are a lot of different things going on. You mentioned the clinical trials, and let's kind of take this step by step. I'm sure you can share the information ahead of the release. But what were you looking for this was for the pump system. Was this a safety trial? Was this an outcome trial? Can you share any information   Marie Schiller  9:55 for you know, I won't go into any details that we will be sharing at the conference, but As has been seen with other products going through on that hybrid closed loop system, we are focused on showing that the system is functioning accurately. So we are looking at that first stage looking at different you know, stress situations with the system making sure the system is responding as we would expect it to respond. And obviously as part of that is the safety of the system.   Stacey Simms  10:27 So, as we're talking about this system, what's so intriguing about it to me is that it is a pump, but it acts more like a pod. At least it did when I last saw it or I saw a mock up of it even so is it still that way it's very teeny tiny, but it it acts as a tube pump with a very small tube that goes into a traditional inset Is that still the hardware?   Marie Schiller  10:47 It is so we what we like to call it is that is a hybrid system meeting on the days that you want to carry it and put it in your pocket or wherever is your choice of carrying it. You could use a standard length infusion set or a long infusion set, whatever your preference, but on days that you wanted to wear it, and adhere it to your body, you could do that. And so it would still work with a standard catheter infusion set, but you would obviously be using a shorter tube in that instance, if you choose to wear it on those days.   Stacey Simms  11:24 You know, it's funny, Marie, I've I didn't ask this when I first saw it two years ago, and I keep thinking about it, because now tandem has a I don't know where they are in their development stage. They have the T sport which sounds very similar that they're hoping to come out with. How do you actually were these tubes, tiny tubes, pumps, the hybrid pumps on the body? Did they just kind of dangle from the tube? Do you stick them to your skin? Does it work?   Marie Schiller  11:47 Yeah, I can't comment on tandem. It's a great question though. Stacey, you know, obviously with our so there's an adhesive component where you are wearing the pump. It's not obviously on the infusion set right? But ours is where you would be adhering to the pump itself.   Stacey Simms  12:04 And my frustration was I thought you're gonna say I can't tell you anything. But that's great. There's like a sticky on the pump and it sticks to your skin. does it stick to the body? Like a? Is it like a Dexcom? sticky? Or is it like the ever since which is more like what I call a color forms? Remember those color forms? You could take them on and off and on and off? Is it more like that? Or is it once it's stuck to your skin? Then you kinda have to pry it off.   Marie Schiller  12:34 Yeah, I may, at this point, just pull back a little bit because I think I may be going down. I may be going down the rabbit hole as if I'm trying. I feel like I'm going to be playing a game of charades as I try to walk you through how the system works. And it may be more confusing than helpful. So yeah, as I mentioned that you have the ability to wear it and there's an adhesive system and we'll leave it at that.   Stacey Simms  12:59 All right. But it's very interesting. So then my next question is, do you know if Lilly is going to be developing new infusion sets? And I asked this because I've shared for years and years, and I'm not the only one, that I really think that the traditional infusion sets are the weak link of any pump. They're just not great. And I'm always hoping that somebody is going to come up with a better one. Any chance, this is part of your plan?   Marie Schiller  13:24 as we've talked about, look, we are looking at all components of the system. Right. And so we are starting with our core system, we're looking at all aspects of the system. I would say, you know, it's hard for me to say yes or no, on that side. I think we're looking at the need in the marketplace. Right. I think on that infusion set side. I'd be curious to sort of hear your experience with that. I think in in some of the research we've seen, it's different sort of aspects where people would say they'd like improvement. Clearly. Extended wear is something that we're hearing a lot I know jdrf and others Groups are focused on that. But what areas are high on your list   Stacey Simms  14:03 that they work better, that that you can push more insulin through them that they don't get kinked and they don't get occluded. And they don't need to know that they're, they're not as damaging to the skin that they're not as painful that I feel I could go on and on. But truly, I really think they're the weak link of pumping and you know that they even what was the one from BD for a while like it had a better flow, it didn't just float the bottom of the canula even to be able to rotate it there was one you used to be able to spin you know, that would go with that would turn you know, there's there's so much so sure, I'll be in a focus group anytime or recall me.   Marie Schiller  14:38 I'm taking furious notes here to make sure I get all of this feedback because this is exactly what we need to hear, you know, and exactly what we're excited about. I think we just continue to feel that there are so much room for improvement on these systems. Albeit we've made a ton of progress today. But these are all of the nuances right then each of us I deal with every day and why, you know, the more innovation the better and space where we can continue to look at all of these elements and make progress.   Stacey Simms  15:09 So let's talk about the pen system too, because that's very useful and very fascinating. The pen is, as you had already said, It is not just an insulin pen, it is part of a connected system. Can you talk a little bit about what that means? We've mentioned Dexcom. already. I assume you use your phone. You can see where you've been it recommends dosing, that kind of thing.   Right back to my talk with Marie but first One Drop is diabetes management for the 21st century. One Drop was designed by people with diabetes for people with diabetes. One Drops glucose meter looks nothing like a medical device. It is sleek, compact, and seamlessly integrates with the award winning One Drop mobile app, sync all your other health apps to One Drop to keep track of the big picture and easily see health trends. And with a One Drop subscription you get unlimited test strips. lancets delivered right to your door. Every One Drop plan also includes access to your own certified diabetes coach have questions but don't feel like waiting for your next doctor visit your personal coach is always there to help go to diabetes connections calm and click on the One Drop logo to learn more. Now back to Marie answering my question on what a connected system means and whether the pins help keep track of dosing   as we expect.   Marie Schiller  16:28 It does so as we mentioned, it's based on the the quick pen platform is is a core component of it. So if you look at the quick pen platform that we offer in forums and we have our current basic lar influence and humor log both in the half unit one unit and two units, and then we have our ultra rapid insulin that's under review today. So as in and I don't know what's your son ever on 10 before you move to pump,   Stacey Simms  16:58 he was actually uncertain Because the dosing was so teeny tiny, and they didn't even have half units, but he was on quarter units. But we have since we use pens a lot, because it's a backup for him. If he gets to fly and feels like his infusion set isn't working, he'll take a shot. And he is also a little unusual in that we use. We use a long acting shot with the pump. So he does use a pen every day.   Marie Schiller  17:25 Okay, well, then you're familiar with it. And I can share with you that I was a pumper for years. And now I'm back to two shots, as we all sort of go through those journeys, but what I was going to describe is when you're taking those informs, especially as you know, you're taking the long acting in the short acting. There are just some basic elements that we still don't have today, right? You're running out the door, you're trying to get your son to school or I'm trying to get to work that I did I just take that shot or not again, remember right and just some of the most the simplest aspects of being able to be like up there. If I took that dose, right, and being able to have that check in place, but there are, you know, as you move down that level of sophistication, most people on informer fire some level of glucose testing, whether that is blood glucose monitoring, or as we're doing with the continuous glucose monitors. So the idea is, is that you would have the informed data from the pen, you would have your glucose data, whether that's blood glucose or CGM data, and you would take that in integrate them into this diabetes management system that depending on what you want, is how you would interact with that system. So some would have a preference of saying, you know, when I'm doing okay, or my regimen maybe easier, I don't need as much variation. So, for me, it's a place that I can capture that data and not have to go to different places to get that data for others having some different elements of support in that system. will be beneficial, right? If you think about things on the Faisal influence side for people with type two diabetes faisel, type tration as you get started on the insulin, or maybe after I'm on insulin for a couple years, how do I make sure I'm optimizing? Right? You can go through sort of that journey and see all of these different places where how we can do better than we're doing today. And I'm honing in on the glucose data and the informed data. So we all know I sometimes say life gets in the way right exercise and food you know, all those things that are pretty standard, but for a lot of us can make the road pretty bumpy as we're out there. So you know, over time being able to get the system smarter and smarter with that exercise data and then learning system. So, you know, we all talk about the algorithms that are out today are very much rule based systems right if my glucose is going up by default Like take this action and then be informed is delivered in the future. It may be well for Marie, her level is going up at x rate. And that's, that's not good for Marie versus for Stacey, that might be okay. Because I've trended back and looked at that data and say, you know, we're going to predict that she won't get to an elevated level as an example. Right. So if you start thinking about the personalization of these algorithms over time, it will not be day one, as we all know, it's going to take a lot more research and beta for us to be able to continue to get to that ideal state.   Stacey Simms  20:41 So I'm trying to read between the lines. So the plan sounds like it is to launch with a more let's call it a more static algorithm. Like we just started using control IQ from tandem which is a hybrid closed loop software system. It is a great system for us so far, but it doesn't learn anything. It's probably If This Then That, but it doesn't learn my size. Okay, it's not personalized. So I assuming you're kind of saying that Lilly will launch in a similar way, but the idea would be to eventually get to a learning algorithm.   Marie Schiller  21:11 Yes, I think that's a fair statement.   Stacey Simms  21:14 All right. So let's talk about the announcement that you're gonna be working with Dexcom. Just if you could spend a minute talking about what that means. It's not exclusive as I read the release that y'all sent over. So it sounds pretty interesting. Let's start with what it means first to work with Dexcom are they making? Sometimes there's, I hear special transmitters for certain things, certain software for certain things. Is this a Lilly Dexcom? Original?   Marie Schiller  21:39 no meaning we are basing it off of the transmitter that Dexcom has. So we will be compatible with the G six and we'll continue to work with Dexcom in our development arrangement as they continue to iterate and we continue to iterate to make sure we've got access to each other's latest technologies right because the last thing any of us want to do in these collaborations is to be behind in generation integration, right? I mean, that's what was happening and some of the first generation systems, right, you got people still on, I think it was what g4, and they'd want to be moving to the G six, and there was no way to do those updates, or the G five. So we've established our development, work with them and ability to make sure that we can continue to be running in parallel, as each of our platforms evolve over time. So it will be based on their latest transmitter based on our latest pump in our latest pen, and be able to integrate the the CGM data from Dexcom system into the diabetes management system, where some of the functionality that I talked about before could be available.   Stacey Simms  22:53 So I'm always trying to read between the lines You'll have to forgive me but when I see a press release that says non exclusive, I'm always thinking, you know I don't know of too many, or any pump systems. Gosh, it's so funny to say that Marie, because there's really only a couple in the US. But I don't know if I hear we hear a lot about interoperability, but it isn't here. Yeah. So my question, I guess, is when I see now exclusive, I'm thinking, Okay, are you do you have an eye to working with other CGM companies? And is that practical in the short term? When we all know FDA approvals, things like that, you really kind of have to stick with one system, at least so far, to get it through?   Marie Schiller  23:29 Yeah, you know, it's an interesting way you sort of posed the question, I think, let me say big picture and then sort of dive down to where we are right now. You know, at the end of the day, we believe having access to sort of the latest and greatest technologies is really important, right. I mentioned even with dex comm that we want to be on the same innovation curve that they're on. So people using our system can have access to that. It's really important that all of us, keep pushing For this innovation, right, and the way that you do that is to make sure that I have the ability to integrate other technologies into my system. And I think both of us hold that premise that keeping as a non exclusive allows both of our team to be able to, you know, have access, or have our users of our system have access, I should say to the latest and greatest technology. We have started our program with the XCOM and are really excited about the progress. But we think it's important to make sure that we will have the opportunity to bring different technologies in for different users, even on the systems available today. Right. There are differences in the system, and people are choosing different platforms because of that. Sure.   Stacey Simms  24:51 Yeah, it's really interesting. I mean, I keep hearing about interoperability, which I know is going to come someday but my interpretation of that which is I always call it the Mr. Potato Head. system is not the realistic system. So I try to temper my expectations but why not? Come on? I want to mix and match as much as possible. Why not?   Marie Schiller  25:10 I don't know. Did you like playing Mr. Potato? I was never a huge fan.   Stacey Simms  25:16 It's a it's an easier thing to explain, right? Why can't I use the lead Ray? With the tandem pump? Why can't I use a Dexcom with a barefoot pen? Why can't right i mean if it works better for me and my skin and my kid and my like, why can't I and I, I get it. But at the same time, I really hope that someday we're working towards that, hey, look, it could be worse for you. They could make us play operation or perfection or something terrible like that.   Marie Schiller  25:39 Those are worse. Yeah. But you know it, baby. I think there are a lot of people were having that sort of turnkey solution is, you know, where it's all comes in on and I just understand it and it's all designed to work together. They prefer that and other people would would like that choice, right. So I think we're gonna probably see both of those emerge over time. And the FDA to be fair, has opened the door to that event, right? I mean, they're trying hard to separate the approval of each of the components. We saw that with the ACE ban. We've seen that with IC GM, and now with AI controller that can pass. So, you know, I think, at least from the FDA perspective, they've worked hard to try to enable some of that.   Stacey Simms  26:25 I agree. Alright, so from interpretability. Let's talk about the proprietary aspect of this. Because I think when a company like Lilly, that makes insulin gets involved with the hardware in which the insulin goes, a lot of questions come up, and you mentioned the quick pen. So can you just confirm again and correct me if I'm wrong? Will other insolence be able to be used in either of these systems pen or pump?   Marie Schiller  26:52 Yes. So on the pen side, the system is being built around our quick pen platform. So it will be a system that work with really insulin on the pump side of the equation. In addition, we'll have a first generation that will be a patient built component, but over time, that may shift as well. So on the life cycle plan for that pump, we're looking at the ability to have Lilly insulin in that system, as well.   Stacey Simms  27:27 Okay, so to be clear, and not say, not putting a judgement on this, but just to be clear with the idea is that this would be a proprietary pump, that Lilly would make the pump and Lilly would want its own insulin. We've been human lock used in the pump.   Marie Schiller  27:38 Yeah, I think the system is being designed around Lilly's insulin.   Stacey Simms  27:43 Alright. So you know, we've Marie, we've known each other for a while now and I know you know, this question is coming, but I think it has to be asked in a day and age where people are so angry about the pricing of insulin. Why should we get excited about systems like this when people are worried about But affording the stuff that goes in the hardware, let alone affording the hardware, whatever it is, and how great it is. There's a lot of concerns about cost. I know it's not your department, but I can't have you on and not ask about it. Can you comment on that?   Marie Schiller  28:14 And no and not and I appreciate you asking it. And you have no need for a while as well. So I appreciate the service candid question. Look, you know, and I've said this before, and I'll say it again, you know, we are committed to be able to let people with diabetes, access our medicines, and in the future, disconnected diabetes system that will include sort of the pen based system and the pump and other components. I know you'll be frustrated at this next part of it. But I can't fit here in sort of the position I'm in and where we all want this platform to be any, you know, give you any speculation of the details of how that will happen, or how that reimbursement will be in the marketplace. It just wouldn't be fair to you or your user's to speculate on that, except to say that we are 100% committed to making sure that that access is available. Look, we're not here for the sake of having this innovation sit on a shelf somewhere, not why I'm here. It's not why others are here. And so it is really important for us to be laser focused on how people access the system.   Stacey Simms  29:24 And I mentioned in the introduction, but you live with Type One Diabetes, I definitely have another question for you. But it just occurred to me, are you allowed to even say this, have you tried this system? Like, are you in the trial? Can you trial your own? unprepared?   Marie Schiller  29:38 I sure how to answer that. I have no, I'm not in the trial, but I can give you that answer. So I am not in the clinical trials that have occurred today.   Stacey Simms  29:50 I'll tell you as a person who doesn't have diabetes, obviously, you know, it's just something that I always wonder about when I talk to researchers or clinicians or I know there's there's obviously rules for clinical trials. But you've got to think, alright, I want to try this on myself. I know a lot of people have done that. Okay. So the real question I wanted to ask   Marie Schiller  30:05 is okay, I can't wait. I can't wait. That's why there's no, we're pushing hard to justice available. I, I'm waiting, like out there to make sure that I get this.   Stacey Simms  30:18 Alright, so I've got a difficult question. So my real question about living with type one is difficult is it right now to work at Lilly, when people are so angry, and a lot of that is directed? We've seen protests separately headquarters, you know, and again, it's not you, you're not in the price department. Even if there is one. This is not something I know you can control. But is it difficult and frustrating for you to see the problem, frankly, with insulin pricing at all of the insulin companies?   Marie Schiller  30:46 And the answer to that they see and I think we may have talked about this, either the last time on the phone or when I saw you it's like how do you not feel the pain in you know from people, right? I mean, this dishes, dish issues difficult issues people are dealing with. So of course, you know, what I would say is is that worse from, you know, being here? You know, I look at what we're trying to do. And And And again, I'm not the person to sort of comment on this, but it's a priority for Lilly. And I'm really proud that Lilly has made it a priority to make sure that access is there.   Stacey Simms  31:25 Going back to two devices that we've been talking about. I always hate to ask about timelines, but I always have to ask about timelines. Can you give us a goal timeline here? Is there any indication of when it might be submitted to the pen or the pumping, which will kind of go in first?   Marie Schiller  31:42 Yes. So let's talk about the pen first. So as I mentioned, and you can see on the FDA site the supplemental approval for the pen has gone through. We are working with the agency on the other components of the systems. We are not giving an update right now. on the timeline for that system, but we expect to be giving updates over the next couple of months on the pump. As I mentioned, we'll be sharing the first clinical data and our signaling that we're still over the next couple of years hoping to get that system to market   Stacey Simms  32:16 where we thank you so much for joining me. I know it's a difficult conversation to have when you've got, you know, a lot of things about to come out and then other things that I'm asking that aren't really your department. But I appreciate your frankness. Before I let you go as a person who lives with type one, what is it like to work in the diabetes sphere? I mean, I think part of me would be kind of tired, like my whole day is diabetes. My whole life has diabetes, but it's got to be exciting as well. What's   Marie Schiller  32:41 it like? It's an interesting question. For me. I just don't know any different facing effects? The answer is, I don't know my kids would probably answer the same way. I don't know what I would do with myself if I wasn't doing this all day. My weekends are spent so much in the diabetes space as well. It's just something that that is it's just a part of me, right? so much a part of all of us who are living in this space. And I'm impressed every day by all of the people working so hard to make these advancements. And it's amazing, right? As you've seen, we're actually getting some of these solutions out and reading about the improvements that are there. And I'm excited and want to keep staying focused on doing what I can to get these products out and having my team man. I mean, everybody here is just so passionate about what we're trying to do to make these advancements. So it's, um, I know it's a it's like one of those questions someone would ask what would you do if you worked with your spouse? You know? I don't wanna say I love my diabetes so much because I'm not sure I'd answer that way. Am I cursed my diabetes maybe as much as I do other things in life, but it's data reason that probably keeps That's all motivated if we know how much better we can make life.   Stacey Simms  34:03 Well, thank you so much for spending some time with me. I really appreciate and I hope we get a snapshot of the devices soon enough, Marie thanks again.   Announcer  34:15 You're listening to diabetes connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  34:21 Of course, more information at diabetes connections.com. I always link up a lot more info at the episode homepage and a transcript. I'll be interested to see how this episode is received. As I mentioned at the start of the show, there are some people who do not want to hear anything from Lilly, if it's not about lowering the price of insulin. And I respect that I hear that I know that there's a lot of anger in our community and a lot of frustration at all the insulin makers and you know, I do share a lot of that, but I would be curious to think if we should not be following the other technology advances that are coming out of these companies, because I'll be honest with you, I said this two years ago, I think Lilly is seeing the writing on the wall. That the price of insulin is going to be mandated to come down in the next few years. And they are, they don't wanna lose money. They want to find other ways to continue to be competitive. And I certainly don't think that insulin will be free. But I do think that going into the pen and pump business is a move on their part with an eye on the price of insulin coming down. Look, I'm not an economist. I'm baby way off base. But that is something that makes sense to me. up next Tell me something good. And then a little bit later on. I want to talk about some other pump companies and news that came out recently, diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. Do you know about Dexcom clarity, it is their diabetes management software. And for a long time, I just thought it was something or endo used. You can use it though both on the desktop or as an app on your phone. It's an easy way to keep track of the big picture. I check it about once a week. It really helps spinny and me dial back and see longer term trends and helps us not overreact to what happened for just one day or just whenever Our the overlay reports help with context of Benny's glucose levels and patterns. You can even share the reports with your care team, which makes appointments a lot more productive for managing diabetes is not easy, but I feel like we have one of the very best CGM systems working for us Find out more at diabetes connections dot com and click on the Dexcom logo.   I love the Tell me something good stories this week. Honestly, I love them every week, but I got a bunch that are so fun to share. And one that frankly is pretty important. Alright, so first, Candace says my son was just diagnosed January 23. This year with a hospital stay. By February 13. He was dancing away and winning a hula hoop contest at his first school dance since diagnosis. He's 11 and he was so proud of his accomplishment winning the contest. And we as parents were so happy that his diagnosis wasn't holding him back. That is so cool. I didn't Kansas for a picture shockingly, an 11 year old did not want pictures of him hula hooping to be displayed. I'm actually not sure if she had any, but we respect that we hear it. I just think it's fantastic that he did it and that he's doing so well. This soon after diagnosis way to go Candace! Alison said this is a tiny thing. But today my child was type one went to get her foot x rayed her shirt, rode up and showed her Dexcom and the text said, Hey, do you have diabetes? I do too. Then she pulled out her pump. It was super cool. Allison says her child was diagnosed in early December. I think that's great. Is there anything better than that diabetes in the wild citing, right? You know, you're with people who get it. It's just so great. And then this one you may have seen on social media. I posted a picture of Isabella with her fish, not her pet fish a fish she caught. Isabella is nine years old and she loves fishing with her dad and boy she beaming in this photo with a fish that's like as big as she is. Her mother, Heather says she was diagnosed with type one at age four. Again, she's nine. Heather says, I will tell you this little girl is amazing. Her dad got diagnosed with lupus almost four years ago. He is on dialysis. We are on a kidney transplant list. I'm currently trying to be his donor. And a lot goes into that. This is her and her daddy's favorite thing to do. They live life to the fullest, and nothing stops them. Heather, thank you so much for sharing this story for letting us share the picture of Isabella, you guys are carrying a heavy load right now. And I'm so glad to hear that you're finding enjoyment in things like this. It's kind of trite. As I'm hearing these words, leave my mouth. I mean, there's really not much to say when you're in a situation like that. But I'm happy to share your story. And I hope you keep us posted. Let us know what's going on. And definitely send more fish pictures. I would love to see that I really would even if we don't share them. You can definitely send them our way are posted the Facebook group. Our final Tell me something good is a little bit of a different story. It's more of an news story. But this is really important. And I think very good news. Beyond type one announced that they are collaborating with the National Association of School nurses to raise awareness of the warning signs of type one diabetes. So this is a new collaboration that means that 10s of thousands of school nurses around the country are going to get these awareness materials from beyond type one, if you haven't seen these we did in North Carolina push a few years ago. And they're just simple and straightforward. And they tell you the signs, and they talk about what to look for. I don't think those of us in the community had any idea what DK a was what it looked like, how deadly it could be, you know, before we our children were diagnosed, right? How would you know? So this education campaign is absolutely going to save lives. Huge thanks to be on type one. And a big thanks to the Helmsley Charitable Trust which is funding it. I will keep you posted. I will put up links in the show notes on how you can get involved because you know ordinary people state to state are getting involved. We sit around my dining room table here outside of Charlotte, North Carolina and stuffing envelopes and sent them out really can make a difference. Tell me something good happens every week around here. Give me your stories post in the Facebook group, email me Stacey at diabetes dash connections dot com. I would really love to hear from you. We got to get the good news out in our community. Tell me something good.   All right. We're getting a little long here. But I wanted to bring you some news from the other pump companies. I know I don't usually do a news update this far down in the show, but because I put the coronavirus episode out a little early. There was some news I was going to put into that episode that has gotten pushed here. Let me get right to it. We had an earnings call from tandem. And the really interesting bits from that were that the T sport hybrid patch pump is now expected later this year, possibly probably early 2021. The CEO of tandem says they plan to file with the FDA for t sport approval. This summer with a new mobile app, which means you'll be able to bolus from your smartphone. So apparently, they're going to submit this in two different ways two different filings. One would be a separate handheld device, right like a dummy phone or a dummy controller of some kind that you'd bolus from. I'm dummy and that it doesn't do anything else but control the pump. But the other filing would be remote bulleting by the smartphone app. And apparently the CEO said they will not launch t sport until both have been okayed by the FDA. So you would have the option of using your phone or of using the singular let's call it singular controller rather than the dummy controller. So that's really exciting. I'm gonna post some pictures diabetes mine posted this update and posted some pictures of the tee sport. It is a little patch pump that can be worn on the body or it has a tube so it can be put in your pocket again. I don't know how it sticks to the body. Did you hear me talking to Maria about that? Is it reusable? Like ever since or is it like a dexcom to rip it off or a pumping set. So we'll find out more about these things as they go forward. But that was some really interesting news from tandem. The other bit of news comes from Insulet. They are in the middle of clinical trials for horizon, they had hoped to be filing for that approval. This summer horizon is the hybrid closed loop for the Omni pod. They did have a software issue. That means they are pausing the pivotal study, and it's going to delay things, not really sure how long, of course, they're really hoping that it won't be too long, you know, maybe a month or so. But they are now pushing the anticipated launch of horizon to early 2021. And I know there's a lot of disappointment because people really want this system. I will say to you that tandem had a similar issue with their software during the last pivotal trial for control IQ. It was very quickly fixed. I don't think it affected the timeline that much. Maybe it was just a month, but it still hit its goal of the end of the year. So hopefully Omni pod insolate can get back on this and get back to their timeline but I will link to More information on that, because I know these things just cannot come to market soon enough. tank you for staying with me. This was a long bit after the interview and I appreciate it, but I wanted to get some information out there. I really appreciate you listening. There's a lot going on right now. All right, I'm gonna stop right here and thank my editor John Bukenas from audio editing solutions. If you have an audio project, I highly recommend john, you know, if he puts up with me, and my rambling that he can do wonders for you. All kidding aside, john is great. I love working with him. He never asked me to say anything in the show. But he really is such a strong part of what makes this podcast successful. And boy, is he nice to me and doesn't leave in all of my papers. So thank you, john. And thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I will see you back here next week.   Benny  43:55 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms media. All right. reserved all wrongs avenged   Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The tables are turned this week as Stacey gets on the other side of the microphone. Kerri Sparling, writer of the long-running and popular blog SixUntilMe and now Children with Diabetes board member, interviews Stacey about her experience raising a child with type 1, what led her to claim "The World's Worst" title and much more. This is part of Children With Diabetes Celebrating Storyteller series. "There are some amazing storytellers in the diabetes community, and many of those folks have spent years honing their craft through blogs, books, and videos. Their stories of life with diabetes bring our community closer. Sharing stories helps make the journey with diabetes less isolated and instead paved with hope and camaraderie. (text from the CWD website) Stacey was excited to be selected to be part of this storyteller series, and even happier to be interviewed by Kerri. You can watch the video here, read the transcript below or, of course, listen to the audio on this episode. Check out Stacey's new book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! you can win a copy from CWD - must enter by March 20th. ----- Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! ----- Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android   Episode Transcript: This episode of diabetes Connections is brought to you by the world's worst diabetes mom real life stories of parenting a child with Type One Diabetes available as a paperback ebook and audiobook at Amazon and at diabetes connections.com. This is diabetes connections with Stacey Simms. Welcome to another week of the show. I am so glad to have you along. As always, I'm your host Stacey Sims. This is a little bit of a different week around here because we released our regular Tuesday interview episode early. If you haven't listened to that yet, it was all about the corona virus and basic information that people with diabetes need to know. Thanks very much to Gary Scheiner CDE and the director, founder of integrated diabetes services. He is always a very calm and informative presidents. He also has a great sense of humor, but I wanted to get that show out. pretty quickly, because you know, of course, as the situation is changing, podcasting is tough to get breaking news out. But we wanted to make sure to get basic information from a good source out to the diabetes community, because I've been seeing and I'm sure it's only gotten worse, a lot of rumors and the beginnings of some panic. So I hope you listened to Gary or read the interview as well, because I put it out as a blog post with just that interview, as well as a transcript with the entire episode. And I hope you've been able to share that a lot of people picked up on it and I really hope it's helped give you some good information. We'll do more as the situation changes if we need to get more information out there. And then this week is a little different because I usually do a mini episode here, where I'm just talking about one topic kind of an editorial, but I'm going to be bringing you an interview that Carrie Sperling did with me now carry most of you know, wrote the long running blog six until me she retired that last year. She's doing a lot of great work with children with diabetes. This is the group that among many other things, puts on those great friends for life conferences, the big one in July every year, smaller regional conferences throughout the year. And they do a lot of really good work in terms of information, and community outreach. So Carrie is doing some of these interviews and I was so excited to be able to talk to her. You may have seen it, they put it out as a YouTube video and I will link that right up. You want to stop right here and go to the video instead of listening. It's the exact same interview except to get to see us and it made me realize I need to work on the lighting in my office. But the information I hope is good. We talked about what led me to write the world's worst diabetes mom a lot about you know, parenting Benny, my son diagnosed right before he turned to 13 plus years ago now, privacy issues Carrie has shared this in her own life. You know, how much do you share online? How much do you not? How do you decide that? And it was really a fun conversation. It's always a A little weird to be on the other side of the microphone.   Unknown Speaker  3:02 It's not   Stacey Simms  3:02 my comfort zone. But here we go. Anyway, here is the interview that Carrie Sparling did with me.   Kerri Sparling  3:09 I am here today to talk to Stacey Simms   Stacey Simms  3:12 about this, oh my goodness,   Kerri Sparling  3:14 I had to climb on my bookshelf to get it down because I accidentally put it on the shelf that I couldn't reach without a stool. So thank you for giving me morning exercise for that. I appreciate it. But um, I Okay, let me make this more formal. I am very appreciative that you've taken the time to talk to me, and then we're going to broadcast this to the children with diabetes community and then share it through our different channels. So thank you for making yourself available. I know this has been chaotic, getting them on the line.   Stacey Simms  3:38 This is what I get out of TV, when really we just need to stick to radio, but I really appreciate it Carrie. Thank you.   Kerri Sparling  3:43 My pleasure. And so I want to jump right in because I've already kept so much of your morning already. So just if you could for a minute just introduce yourself to the community that may not know you already so they can get a sense of who you are, and then we'll get into the book.   Stacey Simms  3:54 Oh, sure. So my name is Stacy. My son Ben. He was diagnosed more than 13 years ago, which is bananas, time just flies, but he was not yet two years old. He was diagnosed with type one when he was 23 months. I have an older daughter Her name is Leah. She is three years older than him over there four years apart in school and I say that cuz she's a freshman in college now and he's a freshman in high school. I started a blog about a month after Ben he was diagnosed at the time I was working as a morning radio show host I had been a TV anchor and reporter that's the I hate pictures. Because it's all the makeup and the hair and the you know, I'm looking at myself like my headphones are so big on this is not good. I distract myself. Um, but then I started the blog and then four years ago, I started a podcast and then last year I wrote the   Kerri Sparling  4:39 book. That's that is awesome. And so so you've been sharing a lot of your family's experience and your personal experience with centered around diabetes, but going right into Stacey Simms, the world's worst diabetes mom. So this title obviously feels a little tongue in cheek because you are clearly very involved, clearly clever and also on top of things that are going on in your kids. In your family's health, so why did you call it this?   Stacey Simms  5:03 The book title came about because I had actually been working on a parenting advice book about raising a child with type one for a couple of years. And it was really boring. And it was really like had been done before. There are so many great books, especially, you know, from a layperson perspective, there are so many great books by medical professionals that can really tell you how to better manage, and I didn't want to just say, here's our story, and here's what I think. And I was writing that book, but I wasn't, I wasn't jazzed by it. It was kind of just writing, you know, old blogs and my publisher and said, Oh, put your old blogs together. We'll just put those out. You know, that just didn't sound right. To me. No friends really resonates like old blogs like it. So I was in a Facebook group, having a discussion like I still do, I foolishly still go into Facebook groups because I want to help people and I get help to still and we had a disagreement and it got heated. I really I felt strongly that this was an okay way to manage and the person was so mean and said, you're gonna you're gonna kill your child you're you're terrible parent, you know really went there. And I just said, Well, I must be the world's worst diabetes Mom, you and I slammed the computer shut and I walked away and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is it not not even think about the book but this is who I am I want to talk about making mistakes. I want to talk about living with less fear. I want to talk about not always being a slave to your beats. Are you okay? Do you need a juice box?   Unknown Speaker  6:33 Sorry, and beeping, then one of those days, but everything is fine. Thank you for asking.   Stacey Simms  6:36 But I just wanted to, I realized in that moment that I did have something to say. And it wasn't just about the old blogs. And I went back I screenshot of the conversation because I thought well, maybe this guy is bananas. It's gonna come after me. But I also deleted it. Because we didn't need my anger out there either. It wasn't just Hey, I was ugly too. So I got past that and I thought let's talk about all the mistakes I've made because we Made a ton of mistakes. And it's not a question about being a bad parent or a good parent, sure, you're gonna make mistakes with your kids, whether they have diabetes or not. And let's use those examples of mistakes to talk about resiliency and confidence and, and I think my son is better off for all the mistakes I made.   Kerri Sparling  7:16 I hope that applies to parenting outside of the realm of diabetes, because I'm not a perfect mom myself. And so it's reassuring to hear that stumbling leads to success, even if it's a modified version of the success you thought you were going towards. So I really appreciate that. And I also like the fact that it's not like here's how to be perfect by Stacey Simms, because that really puts people on their heels like you can't take advice from someone that you have on a pedestal it's always a lot easier to have a peer to peer conversation and that's why I feel like your book reads through it very a resonated for me and I'm an adult the diabetes not raising a child with diabetes but reading your perspectives gave me a lot of insight on maybe conversations that my mom and I never had or my email just think the cross Can you see that when it comes across You know, you're supporting the note cuz he's just some weird emails. But I just have a couple notes. I just wanted to look through this. But when I was reading through the book, there's the story of the first night that you guys are home with, with Benny. And, and it hit me really hard because I was thinking about my own two kids. And like I said, they don't have diabetes, but I was putting myself in your position. And it's so easy to be the person with diabetes from my perspective, but it is very, very different to be the person who carries just as much, but it's like 10,000 feet away for so much of the experience. And so do you think that it's important to have those stories shared like stories like yours and stories from adults with type one, so that we can kind of create a, an amalgam story sort of thing, like, why is that important?   Stacey Simms  8:37 I think it's a great question, because it's it's so important to recognize that the two experiences run in tandem, but they are so separate, as well. Right? We're never really going to separate them. We can't pretend they're the same. So a person with diabetes is having one experience a parent of a child with diabetes is having a totally different experience, obviously tied to By diabetes, and I, you've already said, Oh, I think it's you know, it's worse to be the parent, you've implied that by something you said, which is fine. I mean, I almost every adult with type one I know, says all my mom, it was so much harder on her.   Kerri Sparling  9:10 We're not saying it to make you feel better. We're saying, we believe that fun. Yeah,   Stacey Simms  9:14 I understand. But I disagree, because I'm not beeping, and I can walk away from it. But at the same time, it's not a question of comparing, right. And I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I'm not saying that you're doing that. But I think it's really important that we see these experiences as equally important, but very different, but then tied together. So telling all of these stories. I'm hopeful that Benny, when he gets a little older, we'll look back and read it. And he knows what he knows the stories we actually shared that ahead of time. We talked about what I could put in the book, but I'm hoping that he'll see it and kind of think, Oh, well, that was not my experience, but I'm glad to know it.   Kerri Sparling  9:50 Well, of course and you were saying it's not it's it's not about comparing them. I think it's about making a cohesive story around them like my low felt like this, but it looked and felt to my mother like this and meshing those two stories together together gives us a broader experience touch point. And I think that's so important, especially for like a teenage kid who might pick up your book and read it. And when they're in that angsty, angry part of diabetes, and they might be so furious with their parents to get your perspective on that might help segue a good conversation with their own parents. That's why I don't think this book is just for parents of kids with diabetes at cross collateralize is the whole community you know? I don't know. I think that's accurate. I'm gonna toot your horn for you that way.   Stacey Simms  10:28 One thing I think it's really interesting to talk about is you mentioned like the not perfect parenting thing. And I think it's we're under pressure, regardless of diabetes is parents right? You can't win you really can't. But I also think it's funny when you look at a lot of parenting blogs and parenting writings. It's either I'm a perfect parent and you should aspire to look like this. It's perfect Instagram photos or whatever, you know, look like us do like us eat like us. Or you have the oh I don't know what I'm doing.   Unknown Speaker  10:54 I'm so crazy on motherhood is that you know, I'm a man I look at my and I really that doesn't speak to Neither,   Kerri Sparling  11:00 right we are middle lane.   Stacey Simms  11:02 We are smart, we are strong. We are sometimes a mess. We are sometimes perfect. And I really I'm not. I know that sound like I was making fun. You know what I mean? If these archetypes, especially women we get put into, right. I'm a hard driving success story or I'm so clumsy. I fell into my man, you know, I mean, I hate that. So I tried to really in this book, kind of encapsulate, you know who I am, but who I think a lot of other moms are too, right. competent, confident,   Kerri Sparling  11:29 but not having it all together. Now might be an important part to bring up the fact that I'm wearing normal clothes from the waist up, but sweat tears from the waist down. So like I think that sort of is the it's the template for that. They need you there we go. Wait, you you would actually skipped ahead to something I wanted to ask you about. Sorry. Should No no, that's fine. This is good, though. When you're using the questions, I know and I don't normally write my stuff down. But I'm organized today. Um, but yeah, we talked about when you first started sharing your stories, and Benny was home that first night That sort of stuff. And you used to write about Benny's personal experiences and yours. And as he's gotten older, and his experiences become more his, you've said that you've stepped away a little bit from telling his stories and have embraced. I can't describe it for you. But like, what, what's it like to decide to share x in the beginning, and what makes you transition to the y?   Stacey Simms  12:19 I think it's such an important conversation. It was interesting in the beginning, and I do wish that I'd given my kids just a little bit more privacy by changing their names, or giving them nicknames. The problem for me was I was already on the radio. And we had a show where it was mostly political news. But we did talk about our personal lives a little bit. So my listeners knew when I started at that station, I had a one year old daughter. And then when I was working at that station, I was pregnant and then I had a baby and here's Benny in the hospital, you know, it was a different experience than just blogging. So it didn't really occur to me at the time and social media. Certainly what it is now isn't wasn't then what it is now. It was a different experience. But when you have a toddler, you have a baby, I mean, even going back, I was Careful at the time not to overshare I but as he got older you realize, you know people are reading this people are looking at this. There were there were only some experiences that I felt comfortable sharing and it wasn't just the good stuff, right? We shared things that things went wrong. I thought that was important. But I'm I'm on the record. I sound like a broken record. You know, I don't share my Sunday one. See, I don't have that. I don't like you know, do not share photos of your child in distress. You know, no hospital pictures. I wish I had pictures of him in the hospital and he was diagnosed for me. Sure. But you know, we didn't have our phones with us. 24 seven at that point, especially didn't have cameras on them, which sounds so ancient.   Kerri Sparling  13:43 I mean, this is what it is right? Like when I was diagnosed with diabetes, I had to pee in a bucket to test it. So like things had to not a bucket. I mean, let's be realistic about this. But you know, things have progressed and with it the the conversation about what to share and not to share and so, I mean, you talked already about not sharing his anyone see? And I think personally, I am on the same page with you about that no one needs my personal data points because their mind in their personal, but that there's a broad spectrum of decision making processes around that sort of stuff. So what made you decide not to do that?   Stacey Simms  14:14 Well, I think I'll just put a caveat in there, I think, to not mindlessly share, right? Sometimes it makes sense if you're trying to talk through something or get advice or share a situation or, or say, hey, look at this difficult situation we worked through and now we're celebrating I mean, just mindlessly is the word I tried to use about it. But what changed was when he was about seven, I think I read something by Moore McCarthy, who is a mentor of mine, and she's longtime blogger, author, I mean, yeah, faculty, you know, I probably saw her speak there and got this information, but she really encouraged me and others to think about it. And once I stopped to think about it, I realized there's no reason for my seven year olds health information to be on the internet. I'm not posting my weight and my cholesterol. And you know, my blood pressure. It's the same thing. We don't see it that way, right? But it really is. And that once I thought about it, it changed everything for me and I started sharing more, you know, great endo visit no changes, everything's on track or great endo visit. We had a whole conversation about changes we have to make sure sometimes like bad, you know, bad can be good when you get the information. Yeah, I love the finger quotes.   Kerri Sparling  15:27 But I feel like that's an important part of it too, because it's not truly bad or truly good. There's a right   Stacey Simms  15:32 dial up stations get better when you get away from the numbers. I agree. You know, you can you can have more in depth about how you're feeling and what advice you're looking for. And that sort of thing. So I've shared with friends when I've said old I'm upset about this, or can you help me with that? That's different.   Kerri Sparling  15:46 Yeah, no, of course because that's your actual personal life but broadcasting it to the broader internet as a different person retired. As a kid who grew up with Type One Diabetes, that's my perspective. And yours is parenting a kid who's growing up with Type One Diabetes. How How do you feel about I mean, you see a lot of memes from parents about parenting in general where they have like the curlers, half in their hair, and the bathrobe and the coffee cup dangling off of one arm, and they're like, parenting is so exhausting. And that feels universally haha. But when I see that same sort of meme applied to diabetes, like, this is what a parent of a kid with diabetes looks like. And they just look bedraggled and rotten and exhausted and as an adult with type one that applies a guilt to my experience that I didn't see coming. And so I'm just curious what you think about things that paint diabetes in a light that maybe they don't realize is shining directly on their kid. When parents tell those sorts of stories? Yeah, it is a great question because the reality is, maybe you didn't sleep that great last night, right? Maybe you were up three times treating a low. But are you talking about me because that was my nightlight?   Stacey Simms  16:49 Well, I do have Do you have a baby can still because there was a signal in my house. No, I   Unknown Speaker  16:52 do.   Stacey Simms  16:55 It No, I'm talking about the parent, right. So if a parent has to do that, and then wants to go on from But the next day and start talking about how hard it was. I can understand that. But I do think and my favorite meme about this and I don't think it started as a diabetes parenting meme. I think it's just a parenting meme. But it's like, you know, an 87 year old woman, and that it says like, well, parenting is hard. You know, my I'm celebrating my 23rd birthday tomorrow. Money. But I do think that you've hit it on the head, that's going to be my would share about diabetes. I think it's difficult to know where to draw that line. And we don't, we don't think because what we're doing not to get all psychological. But in doing some research for a recent podcast I was doing I found a great article about this and I can send you the link but when we're sharing things like that we're looking for likes, right because our brain As humans, we need support. We're looking for community. We actually like to get the good Brain Stuff going the dopamine or whatever, when you get the right weights real and physical and social hosting, something like that, you know, is going to bring in more of that. And it's not made up. It's not fake. Oh, yeah.   Kerri Sparling  18:09 Feeling it all   Stacey Simms  18:10 really happens. But there are better ways of doing it. I think and as you were alluding to, if we, as parents of kids with type one, don't listen to adults with type one, we miss out on this kind of conversation, because no seven or eight year old is going to say, you know, it kind of hurt my feelings or I, I really processed some guilt when you posted that, right? They're not gonna say that they may not even realize it, but we need to be mindful of that kind of stuff. And I think it's fine to have fun and you know, maybe share that privately. But um, you know, I I'm really try hard not to make diabetes, the focus of everything and not show that guilt because that's just parenting anyway.   Unknown Speaker  18:48 Right? It's just an added thing.   Stacey Simms  18:50 It is just an added thing. It's like not to get too far off topic, but when people are freaking out about sending their kids to sleep overs, sure, right, because something might happen when I was in second grade Jennifer Look, it's like At my house, we had a babysitter. We didn't eat that my parents and she put her leg on my bed. It was the 70s. It was like some metal crazy trundle bed. She cut her leg bad enough that we had to go to the ER and get stitches.   Unknown Speaker  19:10 Oh, wow. How do you prepare for that? I don't think you do.   Stacey Simms  19:15 Things happen on sleep overs. emergencies happen. Parents who say I'm gonna have sleep over have to be prepared for weirdness. And to me diabetes falls under that category. But that's a decision you have to make. And I think it's the same thing with that kind of a mean, you kind of have to make the decision of, there's a difference between, everything's fine, everything's fine. Everything's fine, which I've been guilty of for a long time. It's fine. It's fine. I'm not gonna worry about it. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I don't need any help. I'm fine. And there's a difference between that and what was me everything's terrible. Like, like sucks and you know, oh, my God, diabetes is the worst. You gotta you gotta find that medium and you've got to, at least to your children, I think it's important to fake it, but be careful about stuff like I might.   Kerri Sparling  19:57 I like what you said earlier because I read a lot about my fulness and being mindful and making sure that you're mindful, but the fact that you've cited mindlessness as a potential alternative to that, like, don't be mindless, don't share mindlessly consider the you know, the course of your actions that you're taking and how it might influence your kid. That is a huge takeaway already. For me from this conversation. It doesn't apply just to parenting diabetes, I think it applies to the whole mess being Don't be mindless about the things that you're sharing. I think that's a really, really good tip.   Stacey Simms  20:26 It's funny because I stink at being mind. Right? You're like, Oh, no, take your time when you eat and drink your tea and fever and, you know, take them home. I really don't think I can do that. But I can take an extra 10 seconds and think do I want to post this photo?   Kerri Sparling  20:39 Of course, not. In a mindfulness exercise once I was asked to spend one minute eating one m&m, and it was really strange experience and I'm sure it was really effective, but for me, it made me feel very stressed out. We can get into that later, but because we've talked a lot about parenting, and I'm sorry to be going back to my notes here. You You talked about it experience where you and your family are you at least and Benny and Leah met Nick Jonas, and how this was truly more of a thing for Leah, your daughter than it was for your son who is the one who has diabetes. And there's something that you wrote that really stuck with me because I feel like parenting a kid with diabetes, that parent is acknowledged a lot, which is fantastic. The child with diabetes is acknowledged quite a bit because they become the focal point of that narrative. But the siblings of kids with diabetes end up on this weird purgatory peripheral area, and they're not often acknowledged. And you wrote that at the end of meeting with Nick Jonas, that you had said the diabetes was in our lives. But she Leah knew we wouldn't let it take over she knew she wasn't going to be left behind and reading that now gives me goosebumps for reading it then also did too because it acknowledges a group of people that need just as much support as I do as a kid, as you do as a parent. And when I think about children with diabetes in the organization, the programming really speaks to that as well. It's not just for parents, it's not just for adults with type one is for the siblings. It really embraces the whole family. So because your wrote that awesome line. Could you say a little bit more about supporting a sibling   Stacey Simms  22:04 and, and the children's diabetes? I mean that friends for life Leah has come. And Mr. Summer schedules are always crazy. So it's rare that either one of my kids can come and like I still go, but I had a I had a blast, and she didn't really think she would. She kind of came as a favor to me.   Kerri Sparling  22:21 But she was when she was I   Stacey Simms  22:23 think she was 14 or 13. She was a teen. So she was in the teen programming. And you know, Benny was still too young to be in that programming. So they were separate. Yep. And she knew she was gonna get to go to a Disney park, which was amazing, you know, when state of fancy hotel with me and it was great. And she I don't think I saw her much. You know, she thought, Well, I'm not gonna do this. You know, we'll see how it goes. And it was wonderful, but it's really hard. You know, that's one of the few programs that there is for siblings. When when he was diagnosed, we got this reminder really off the bat and it did help us set the tone he was in high But on the Saturday, and on Sunday, I had an event that I had planned. And I do talk about this in the book. But it was an ice skating event uptown. So uptown from my house is about 45 minutes. Okay. And I was the only link between these two groups. It was a group from near my house and a group from your my work. Well, the skating rink was my work. They sponsored the rink. I didn't. I was working at a radio station that sponsored the rig. And I knew that somebody could take care of it, but it was going to be difficult. And Leah reminded me like we're still gonna go ice skating, right. We're still gonna go ice skating because I live in the south. Ice skating is exotic. No, it really is. I grew up in New York. I'm like, oh, there's never been she likes frozen ice that you walk on. Amazing, right? Magic. So I said to my husband, I'm like, We're going he's like heck yeah, go take her and he stayed the hospital and that was the day after my not your two year old was diagnosed and I'm thinking is this the right decision? Is this this is a terrible This is the world's worst diabetes mom because here I am leaving the hospital. But as soon as I I got outside I knew was the right thing. And that was the day that we said we can't let this take over our lives. So you have to be careful. Like, I don't I don't I say this not to judge but just again with that mindlessness and that mindfulness or you know, if you signs in your house that are like in this house, we're blood sugar fighting, you know, ketone, chicken, whatever it is, look, the science we will have in their kitchen. Nobody, I mean, if they're all diabetes related, of course, yeah. You know, have to be kind of careful unless you also have ice skating, hockey playing, you know, unless you want to have a litany of everything your family does. You know, I'm mindful of like, how many t shirts do I actually wear that say diabetes stuff on them all the time. And making sure like, I have stuff from my daughter's programming, and frankly, from Benny's programming that's not diabetes related. It's that kind of little thing I think that siblings really pick up on, like, if you name your dog or your cat or your goldfish after diabetes stuff, you know, it's a family pad. I mean, if it's a diabetes alert doc that might be different. I just think these are things that as simple We kind of forget, you know, they're always they're always watching and they're tallying. And you have to be honest with them that diabetes gets more attention. But with Leah, just having the conversation over and over again really helped. I mean, when she was 15, she and I had a great conversation about it. She said, I was really upset about it. And now I get it. Oh, it was amazing. I mean, he probably is back to being upset about it now.   Kerri Sparling  25:22 But it was great. You guys can talk about it is really nice, because a lot of times that animosity isn't voiced, and nobody has areas to sort of air their concerns. And so it's good that you give her space and like we mentioned in friends for life, people have that space to get that stuff out there. Oh, yeah.   Stacey Simms  25:35 I'm the over communicating Mom, you're like enough.   Unknown Speaker  25:39 Talking to me.   Kerri Sparling  25:42 We've talked about community, we've talked about sharing, we've talked about Facebook and the pluses and minuses of that sort of stuff. And it and it led me to the story that you had written about Benny losing his insulin pump. And then after that, you would, which I think is an amazing discussion about the cost of supplies, and how even small Children are mindful of the cost of things. And we'll get back to that in a second. But after that story you had mentioned, places to find support for when you have gaps like that, or you have issues like that. And I would love some perspective from you on as a parent whittling down this massive diabetes online community that we have access to, to a manageable size that kind of caters to what people might be looking for, like, advice for someone who's just jumping in and saying, there's so much how do I find what's best suited for me?   Stacey Simms  26:26 Yeah, absolutely. I think the best thing to do is if you're already online where where do you like to be? Right? Do you like Twitter? Do you like Facebook? You like Instagram, Pinterest? You got to find your house, like where do you like to live? And then once you're there, find your people. And let's have a Facebook cuz that's probably the biggest for parents. I know Instagram is a lot bigger than the last couple of years. But Facebook groups are still really really active for parents. And my advice there is be careful again, not to turn your Facebook into diabetes book which is what happened to me. I am in I am in 50 Five Facebook groups about diabetes. Now granted, I joined Facebook in 2008. So I had around for a while.   Kerri Sparling  27:07 Well, I'm just it was the look on your face. It wasn't like I'm so proud to be in 55 horrified to be in 55 it was a real mashup of the both   Stacey Simms  27:15 emotions. And that's exactly how I feel. So, because I'm like, I want to be here. And I like the vibe of this group. I like the information in this group. And I like to put my podcast in this group. But what I did was I muted the majority of this groups and that has been phenomenal. If you're not familiar as you're watching or listening. It's very easy to do, you can just mute the group. I think you unfollow the group might be the technical term, but you don't leave the group. So that way, when you want to dip into those waters, it's up your time. And my Facebook feed went back to being my real life, which is my friends, the stuff does the dumb things. I follow in a little bit of diabetes, and then I can jump back in whenever I want to. And Facebook Of course will find you you know if there's something interesting, put it right in your face, on Twitter if you're there, which is Just a crazy place to be the best, just all the politics and mess but DSM a is still your diabetes, social media advocacy is still the best hashtag on Twitter. They still do the Wednesday night chats. Those are wonderful. Instagram I'm struggling with just a little bit only because I like the realness of the stories and things that people I know that out. But I've been trying to follow more people and I'm not knocking anybody, you're all wonderful and beautiful. But I have talked to two influencer type people and I complimented one of them. That was such a beautiful shot in your hair looks so good. And you know, she said, Stacy, I have a hair person and a photographer.   Unknown Speaker  28:40 Diabetes person. What   Stacey Simms  28:43 if I had if I had a hair person and photographer I could change the world. I do wear pants. I'd be wearing pants. I would have better headphones because wearing Benny's beats I thought these would be smaller. You have cute little earbuds I don't know I haven't no here but I studio cans that are like this big I thought would be even more Your cancer headphones in the biz. But I just, you know, I can't do the influencer thing. So you but you as you listen, you might love that that might be your thing, go for it. But I think you have to find where you live where you where you feel comfortable, where's your vibe, and then you'll find your people but don't let it get overwhelming. And if you find somebody that wants to call you the world's worth diabetes. You walk away walk away unless you have a book. But I mean, really, it's not worth the argument. If someone tells me I'm wrong, I'm not going to change their life probably. Maybe I can help. I've got a good discussion going in my local group right now about finding babysitters. There are people locally I run a face for parents in the Charlotte area. Okay, started a few years back and it's been amazing. And there's a discussion right now people like I will never be able to leave my children alone. Yes, you will. And here's how. And so we're trying to help each other kind of get past that right. So   Kerri Sparling  29:59 that's See, I feel like the internet is fantastic. And it's done such a great job of connecting people who don't live anywhere near one another. But when it comes right down to human connection that people really crave in those moments of need, that hyper local stuff is huge. You can recommend a babysitter to me, but they're of no use to me in Rhode Island. But for the people who live down the street from you, they can go and call that person and they can actually hire them out. And that's, that says a lot to about the diabetes community how willing people are to give those really harder and resources and to share it with their,   Stacey Simms  30:28 with their people. That's beautiful. It is absolutely amazing. And you think I mean, I know this is a CWT interview, but the first thing that comes to my mind is going to that conference or any of the conferences that they put on. I don't even worry about what I'm packing my pack everything Ben he needs but you know if he's anything, somebody's got it, and they'll have you a 2am you know, it's just an amazing community. And I don't know, I think especially locally, knowing that we might see each other at the grocery store. Like that Facebook group is probably one of the nicest groups. I'm in   Unknown Speaker  30:59 You'll have to own what they say, right? Because they may see you over avocados.   Stacey Simms  31:02 I know who you are, right?   Kerri Sparling  31:06 We've run through the questions that I had structured for the book and my preparation. But is there anything else that you feel like it would be really pertinent to share with the specifically the CW, the audience,   Stacey Simms  31:14 one of the things I've learned just doing the podcast and now on this book tour that I've been on this year, it's just fascinating as the technology gets better and better, and you know, Benny's on the newest software from tandem, and, you know, there's all sorts of great stuff coming out. It's interesting how the change from 13 years ago seems to be almost more fearful. And it's not that it's not so much that people are afraid to let their kids do things. It's that they're afraid to let their kids get out of range. I think I'm seeing that a little bit among adults as well. Now my adult view is skewed to a lot of the influencers and people that you know, sometimes I see in person, but there's this that's another thing with the the world's worst is, you know, talking about staying in range was never part of my repertoire was like go play football, and we'll figure out how to put diabetes in the picture. I'm learning that a lot of people have. We have amazing technology. It's changed so much just in the last few years. And we need to encourage each other to use that technology to live fuller lives, rather than use the technology to post graphs. And it's just remarkable to even say that to a parent who was diagnosed, compared who was diagnosed, I mean, I've gotta watch language. No, I   Kerri Sparling  32:23 will go back to that in a second. You're right. You are right. My mommy got me it was a wee thing. Just, it was a different version of wheat. So that's a very fair statement.   Stacey Simms  32:31 I think with a 15 year old to I'm really trying to change my language over it's hard   Kerri Sparling  32:35 so of him. So I mean, his health is is your mental well being right. I mean, there's, there's no separation there. It's sorry to go on a tangent.   Stacey Simms  32:43 Well, this is a great discussion. This could be for another time too. And we'll talk more in person, but I think it's his diabetes. And I'm it's the family is affected, but it's his. So that's what I mean. And I completely lost Richard.   Kerri Sparling  32:56 Oh, wait. I was waiting to with that. I started ranges range, using technology to your benefit. I sorry,   Stacey Simms  33:06 I got all I get crazy bad language right now it's it's really hard for me to change over. But I just feel like we're finding that this the state of the art. I mean, I know what I'm saying in my community, we have a pilot program where your child is diagnosed, and they give you a dexcom in hospital when you go home. So it sounds great. But the problem is that there unfortunately, I don't know there's enough education and I'm not slamming the CDs and dexcom here has nothing to do with that. It's just the diabetes is hard. And so see everything from the beginning. Maybe you get used to that, but then the dexcom comes off and they don't wanna go to school, or they don't want to go to the waterpark, or they don't want to go on that that field trip or that overnight because they've never been without the depth causeway. And we're more and more and more of that, where I would be like, Oh, I hope your inset still on, you know, an hour but you learn resiliency, you learn stuff like that. Yes, the worst. And that's the story. When he was three, we were at a waterpark. That's in here. Instead came off and his blood sugar went really high because he was terrified of shots in sets at the time. And I thought, you know what this is going to be an hour to he's going to be fine. The long term, my indices stuff like this is okay, as long as we don't do it a lot. And maybe the running around will bring him down. It didn't, you know, so he got with Ari was 400 we change this instead, we got him home, he was fine. No ketones, blah, blah. But in my local group, someone had posted my kids dexcom came off, I'm not sending her the waterpark. I'm like, come on. Yeah, I got it. Right, we got to use this stuff to live better not let it restrict us long way of getting to that point. And that's really where I think I am right now. Because, you know, the technology is fantastic, but your stuffs gonna fall off. Things are going to fail. You know,   Kerri Sparling  34:44 you know, you have to continue on several life after diagnosis thing.   Stacey Simms  34:50 So it's been a long time. Permit this year, I can't believe it. Oh, and then you get to write about driving with diabetes, which is a Book unto itself, start, the book pretty much stops in sixth or seventh grade. So I'm not going to say that I'm an expert at high school yet, because I've only had one kid go through and she didn't have diabetes. So   Kerri Sparling  35:12 Nick Jonas at one time, so there is that there is that kind of coasting through. But um, but and so you have just been so generous with your time and your perspectives, I really, really appreciate it. And if you could just do me one solid real quick and let people know where they can find you online and where they'd be able to pick up a copy of your book. And obviously, we'll be including links to that, you know, and all the notes that are around this video, but hearing it from you is great.   Stacey Simms  35:34 Oh, thank you so much. I think the best place to go is the podcast website, which is diabetes dash connections.com. And then from there, it'll link to every place else the book, the podcast, the blog, blah, blah, blah. And   Kerri Sparling  35:45 so what's the actual URL for that   Stacey Simms  35:48 diabetes dash connections. com. Perfect. And I would love to do a book giveaway.   Kerri Sparling  35:55 Oh, we would love to have a book giveaway so   Stacey Simms  35:57 I can give away. Let's do this. Let's do a paperback And let's do an audio book. Because the audio book was really fun and interesting to do. If you ever do an audio book, it's quite the experience, like reading a dramatic play. It was very strange, very strange, totally different experience than writing it. But we can do a paperback giveaway. And then the audio book, that would be my pleasure, thank you.   Kerri Sparling  36:18 That would be amazing. And I will put a link to the giveaway page in this video and on the web page. But Stacey, thank you so much for your time for your perspectives for what you've given to the diabetes community and just being my friend, I appreciate that.   Stacey Simms  36:30 Thank you for giving me an excuse to put lipstick on today. The giveaway is open until March 20. I will link up all of the information you need. It is at children with diabetes at their giveaway page. You have to go there you can't do it on social media. We're giving away a copy of the book in paperback and an audio book as well. I'm really looking forward to seeing everybody from friends for life and children with diabetes at their conference coming up at the end of this month in Indianapolis. I'm hoping the travel plans you know stay the way we hope we are watching The virus situation I'm really not sure what's going to happen with travel. But Fingers crossed right now that we are able to do this. And I really appreciate partnering with them on this giveaway and being selected for one of their storyteller interviews. So it's really fun. Okay, our next episode next week, we should be back to normal around here minimum normal being a relative term with me. But our next episode is going to be focusing on Lilly, Eli Lilly announced almost two years ago now that they the makers of human log are getting into the pump and pen business. So we will talk to them about how they're progressing on this connected system. It's a smart system and they are partnering recently announced with dex calm, so we will be talking to them about the progress they've made and what it means for the industry. That will be next Tuesday. Okay, I'm Stacey Simms. Until then, be kind to yourself.   Diabetes connections is a production of Stacey Sims media. Benny  38:02 All Rights Reserved all wrongs avenged   Transcribed by https://otter.aid by https://otter.ai  

For 14 years, Kerri Sparling has shared her story on the very popular blog, SixUntilMe. This month, she published her last post. We take a look back with Kerri and go beyond the blog. We also asked her mom, Debbe, to join us! Debbe shares what she thinks of Kerri's accomplishments and influence and we talk about raising a child with type 1 in a time with very different technology and tools.  Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group!  In our Community Connection – help for people with diabetes who have insurance but still can't afford all of their supplies. We catch up with Diabetes Will's Way as they celebrate 5 years! Sign up for our newsletter here And Tell Me Something Good – meeting your people for the first time. How diabetes conferences are good for the body and the mind. Listeners share their stories and Stacey talks about a recent TCOYD conference. ----- 00:00 Show Open - What's going on this week?! 1:46 Stacey Welcome - She shares a great mother's day present: Benny was Rufus at their local JDRF walk and Lea worked a food truck at the walk. Proud mama moment! Some info about the website - it's still under construction - you can listen to shows there but lots of good new stuff is coming! 5:15 Interview with Kerri Sparling and her mom, Debbe 40:00 Catching up with Lisa Oberndorfer, the founder of Diabetes Will's Way - she's Will's mom - as she marks 5 years of helping people with health insurance who still can't afford what they need. Will was diagnosed at 13 and just graduated high school this year. He was the valedictorian of his class! We also hear from Kathy who received a grant for her daughter's Dexcom CGM. 55:15 Tell me something good: Sarah is 26 just recently diagnosed and met her first T1D people at the EPIC conference in Denver. Stacey talks about the TCOYD conference and a specific session with Dr. William Polonsky of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute  Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners!  ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android  

The essentials to having a successful diabetes blog featuring the host of Sixuntilme! Kerri Sparling. The diabetes community. Follow Kerri's site!https://sixuntilme.com/wp/2019/03/01/diabetes-dance/Welcome to the Pardon My Pancreas podcast!! This show is all about the REAL life with diabetes. Your two host are Matt Vande Vegte & Ali Abdulkareem. Both type 1 diabetics, both diabetes advocates, both diabetes content creators. Matt is the man behind the brand at FTF Warrior which is an tribe dedicated to helping people living with diabetes achieve a healthier life through online coaching while Ali is the creator of the Diabetes Daily Hustle from the Youtube vlogs and podcast show! This episode is sponsored by FTF Warrior. An online community for diabetics dedicated to helping people live a healthier life! https://www.ftfwarrior.comFollow Matt here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ftfwarrior/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ftfwarrior/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCCzwLc-MTNk9636tQyXuwQ---------------------------Follow Ali here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ali.abdlkareem/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOgPM9FFVTOX5gN_qnVHRNA---------------------------Disclaimer: While we share our experiences with diabetes, nothing we discuss should be taken as medical advice. Please consult your doctor or medical professional for your health and diabetes managementMusic: https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud*I do not own copyrights to this music, all rights reserved to the respected labels.

Kerri Sparling returns to the podcast to talk about the end of her blogging adventure, the exciting future of hybrid closed loop technology, mourning her cat Siah, and the wonderful rabbit hole of random top level domains. While it's still a thing, you can read Kerri's diabetes musings at sixuntilme.com, and follow Kerri on Twitter @sixunitlme. Run Time - 43:01 Send your feedback to feedback@justtalkingpodcast.com.

Diabetes is a complex disease alone, adding the process of pregnancy makes life even more challenging. Listen to Kerri's story and get her insight with her journey with pregnancy and diabetes. Kerri Sparling:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sixuntilme/Blogs & More from Kerri! https://linktr.ee/sixuntilmeWelcome to the Pardon My Pancreas podcast!! This show is all about the REAL life with diabetes. Your two host are Matt Vande Vegte & Ali Abdulkareem. Both type 1 diabetics, both diabetes advocates, both diabetes content creators. Matt is the man behind the brand at FTF Warrior which is an tribe dedicated to helping people living with diabetes achieve a healthier life through online coaching while Ali is the creator of the Diabetes Daily Hustle from the Youtube vlogs and podcast show! This episode is sponsored by FTF Warrior. An online community for diabetics dedicated to helping people live a healthier life! https://www.ftfwarrior.comFollow Matt here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ftfwarrior/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ftfwarrior/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCCzwLc-MTNk9636tQyXuwQ---------------------------Follow Ali here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ali.abdlkareem/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOgPM9FFVTOX5gN_qnVHRNA---------------------------Disclaimer: While we share our experiences with diabetes, nothing we discuss should be taken as medical advice. Please consult your doctor or medical professional for your health and diabetes managementMusic: https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud*I do not own copyrights to this music, all rights reserved to the respected labels.

It's been more than 30 years since the play & then the hugely popular movie Steel Magnolias came out. It still continues to be a focal point for women, pregnancy and diabetes. When Stacey's local theater announced their production, she decided to put together this round-table of moms who have type 1.  You'll hear from: Kerri Sparling, author of Six Until Me & “Balancing Diabetes.” Melissa Lee, Director of Community Relations for Bigfoot Biomedical & Kyrra Richardson, founder & Creative Director of Myabetic Kerri, Melissa & Kyrra talk about their feelings around Steel Magnolias, their experiences with diabetes during pregnancy and now as they raise their children. Resources: JDRF Pregnancy Toolkit http://www.jdrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Outreach_pregnancy_12-14-12.pdf Diabetes Sisters:  https://diabetessisters.org/blog/qa-ginger-vieira-pregnancy-and-diabetes https://diabetessisters.org/blogs/pregnancy-motherhood    https://diabetessisters.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20POSTER%2007.26.16%20USE%20THIS%20ONE.pdf  Beyond Type 1: Pregnancy Resources https://beyondtype1.org/pregnancy/ Plus a big award for a diabetes group that made a big difference last year during those devastating hurricanes. Read the article from DiabetesMine And Stacey clarifies her the circumstances around her receipt of the G6 system earlier this spring. Join the Facebook Group!  ----- 1:30 Stacey welcome - taping from the Friends for Life Conference, so apologies about the rough voice this week! 4:30 Dexcom G6 clarification - Stacey received the system and one month supply free earlier this spring. She explains why she initially thoguht (and told listeners) that she was paying for it. She is now paying for all G6 supplies. 7:15 Steel Magnolias Roundtable with Kerri, Melissa & Kyrra 59:20 A big honor for Insulin For Life USA after their work during last year's hurricanes. 1:02:45 Benny's at camp doing cannonballs (please let that Dexcom stay on!) Sign up for Audible and get one audio book free! You'll also get a 30 day free trial using this link. -----  Sign up for our newsletter here Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android   

We sat down with Kerri Sparling and Julie Wheelan, both incredible patient advocates and people. We discussed their individual health journeys, what drives them, and heard their perspectives on how health brands can learn from those they were designed to treat. Enjoy!

This week I'm joined by Kerri Sparling to talk about building a house, the "fridge flippy switch", diabetes burnout, mucking around CSS files, the potential of the FreeStyle Libre, and how to pronounce "PLGS". We also talk about the truth behind Santa Claus for a minute or two, so keep sensitive ears away around the 2:30 mark. Follow Kerri on Twitter @sixuntilme and sixuntilme.com. I wrote a thing for A Sweet Life about diabetes technology in 2018, you can read it at asweetlife.org. Run Time - 50:41 Send your feedback to feedback@justtalkingpodcast.com.

Join the new Diabetes Connections Facebook Group!  ----- Learn about the Abbott Freestyle Libre, a Flash Glucose Monitoring System recently approved in the US. We talk to Dr. Chris Thomas, the director of biosensor technology for Abbott about what exactly the Libre is, how it works and who it's for.  Plus, Bigfoot Biomedical is now partnering with Abbott to use the LIbre in their automated insulin delivery system. We talk to CEO Jeffrey Brewer to find out how what this means and what's on the horizon for Bigfoot. Good article on the partnership here from DiabetesMine. You'll also hear from Steve Hanley of KNOW Foods. Stacey wanted to speak to him after he donated all the bikes to the riders of Bike Beyond and wound up learning all about this new company. You can read more about KNOW Foods in this Sweet Life column by Kerri Sparling. Stacey also shares her take on overnight school fields trips; Benny recently spent three days away with his school. We also address the closure of Animas, what that means to the podcast, Stacey & her family and to customers. Learn more from Animas here.  ----- 3:00 Stacey talks about Animas 8:00 Stacey talks about Field Trips 15:00 Interview with Chris Thomas, Abbott 33:00 Interview with Jeffrey Brewer, Bigfoot Biomedical 1:19:00 Interview with Steve Hanley, KNOW Foods   ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android  Sign up for our newsletter here

An interview with Jenni Grover and Kerri Morrone Sparling about building great habits when you have chronic ilness. Kerri Sparling has been living with type 1 diabetes for over 29 years, diagnosed in 1986. She manages her diabetes and lives her life by the mantra “Diabetes doesn’t define me, but it helps explain me.” You can find her at www.sixuntilme.com

This week, Stacey recently went to the West Coast to check out the JDRF OneWalk in Los Angeles. She was able to speak to actors Derek Theler from ABC Family's Baby Daddy and Brec Bassinger, from Nick's Bella & the Bulldogs. The actors who balance TV and movie careers while living with type 1 diabetes helped kick off the walk at the Rose Bowl Stadium. Stacey also spoke with KTLA News Anchor, OneWalk MC & D-Dad Frank Buckley.  This episode also features Walk a Mile Cards. During this Diabetes Awareness Month, you may find yourself trying to explain what T1D is, but this project hopes to explain what diabetes feels like. It's a unique set of cards to convey empathy through simple but effective exercises. Stacey speaks with Kerri Sparling, Bennet Dunlap and Justin Masterson, three of co-creators of the project.

This week is all about the Walk a Mile Cards with some of the creative minds behind this new attempt at empathy. Joining me is Justin Masterson, Doug White, and friend of the podcast Kerri Sparling to chat about the origin of this idea, and why empathy matters when it comes to making a difference in health, and health care. Learn more about Walk a Mile Cards at walkamilecards.com and @WalkaMileCards. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinAtSeek and Kerri @sixuntilme. Run Time - 1:12:38 Send your feedback to feedback@justtalkingpodcast.com.

There's a lot to discuss this week with Kerri Sparling. T-rex Tuesdays, being a parent to a child in kindergarten, artificial pancreas advancements, switching insulin pumps, and most importantly the Spare a Rose, Life for a Child campaign. Follow Kerri at sixuntilme.com and @sixuntilme. This week's podcast is part of #dpodcastweek, bringing diabetes podcasters together to help spread the word about the Spare a Rose campaign. Visit staceysimms.com/dpodcastweekishere to see other participating podcasts. And you can learn more about the Spare a Rose, Life for a Child campaign at sparearose.org. Run Time - 41:45 Send your feedback to feedback@justtalkingpodcast.com.

Three of the advocates behind the Spare a Rose charity campaign explain how it helps children with diabetes in the developing world. Kerri Sparling, Scott Johnson & Bennet Dunlap also play a few diabetes-news games with listeners. This episode is our contribution to Diabetes Podcast Week, a first of its kind effort organized by Stacey.

Stacey talks to blogger, author and speaker Kerri Sparling, of Six Until Me. Kerri talks about the power of ordinary success with diabetes, how she decides what to keep private and the Spare a Rose charitable campaign. We'll also hear about a connection at theater camp and Stacey has some advice if you're looking to connect with other people with diabetes in real life.

This week we're talking about Kerri Sparling's book, "Balancing Diabetes". First I talk to Kerri about the writing process, developing a cohesive voice with the many contributors who helped make each chapter complete, and the awkwardness of self-promotion. Fitting with the nature of the book, I'm also joined by George Simmons, Sean Oser, Harry Thompson, Briley Boisvert, and Christel Marchand Aprigliano to discuss the chapters they contributed to, and why this book is awesome. Enjoy! "Balancing Diabetes: Conversations about finding happiness and living well" is available now. You can pick it up on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, and learn more about the book, and Kerri at http://sixuntilme.com/book. Special thanks to the other guests who appeared on this week's podcast: George Simmons - ninjabetic.com - @ninjabetic Sean Oser - t1works.blogspot.com - @seanoser Harry Thompson - @harrythompson Briley Boivert - independence.com - @4thandlife Christel Marchand Aprigliano - theperfectd.com - @theperfectd Run Time - 1:18:10 Send your feedback to feedback@justtalkingpodcast.com.

Continuing the conversation with Kerri Sparling and her life with diabetes, life as a mother, life as the wife of a screenwriter, her perspective on the evolving relationships between bloggers and larger corporations, and why Spotify is great. Enjoy. Follow Kerri on Twitter @sixuntilme and read her blog at http://sixuntilme.com. It's fantastic. Run Time - 50:07 Send your feedback to feedback@justtalkingpodcast.com.

Continuing American Diabetes Month, this week I'm joined by Kerri Sparling. She writes a blog called Six Until Me at http://sixuntilme.com and loves her cats. Personally, I consider Kerri to be a super-mega-huge inspiration behind all of my doings on the Internet. Join us for the next hour as we talk about different facets of the blogging lifestyle, wearing a pump on the Red Carpet, the 25-letter alphabet native to the Boston Area and elaborate on the Your Diabetes May Vary slogan.   If you have any comments, questions, or general feedback send them to feedback@justtalkingpodcast.com Run Time - 1:02:46

Thanks so much to Kerri Sparling from SixUntilMe.com for calling in to chat a little bit about the upcoming MedBlog Track at BlogWorld Expo. Did you know that it's only 2 weeks away now? I addition to this, I shared a little about my week and talked about some news stories.