141Pennies.org: Race to Beat Juvenile Diabetes
Donate Now to the race to beat diabetes
What can 141 pennies actually do? 141 pennies could buy a soda; it could buy a small snack; or it could almost buy you a trip downtown on the bus (almost). For most of us – we wouldn’t really miss 141 pennies from our pocket, wallet or bank account. So it would be pretty easy to give those 141 pennies to JDRF to help find a cure, right? But what can 141 pennies really do for funding a new diabetes research grant? (You’re thinking not a whole lot, right?) Well… what if we found 1 million people to each give 141 pennies? Wow – then we could really make a difference in this fight to find a cure, couldn’t we? Well that is what Garry Ash has decided to do – find 1 million people willing to donate 141 pennies (or more) so that he can help fund diabetes research and find a cure for his friend Drew.
Drew Pepin is a typical 10 year-old in most every way. He is an athlete just like Garry - he plays basketball, baseball and gymnastics. He likes to snow board. He can ride a unicycle. His true love is skateboarding. His dream is to become the first pro skateboarder with type 1 diabetes. Our dream for Drew is to one day experience life without diabetes. Drew was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age in 2002 at the age of 5 – he’s now 10, so he has lived with this disease for half of his life. Drew’s life with diabetes currently consists of 8-10 finger pokes to check his blood sugar and constant insulin regimen from an insulin pump or insulin injections. These are parts of his every day that he cannot live without. Garry Ash, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation hope to change that aspect of Drew’s life by finding a cure – so that Drew can be a pro skateboarder without type 1 diabetes.
Diabetes is a chronic, debilitating disease affecting every organ system. There are two major types of diabetes: type 1and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. Type 1 diabetes usually strikes in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood, but lasts a lifetime. People with type 1 diabetes must take multiple injections of insulin daily or continuous infusion of insulin through a pump just to survive. Taking insulin does not cure any type of diabetes nor prevent the possibility of its eventual and devastating effects: kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack, and stroke.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) is the world’s largest charitable funder and advocate of type 1 diabetes research. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. JDRF is driven to be a leading catalyst for development science that delivers therapeutics to improve the lives of people with diabetes in the near term, ultimately leading to a cure. Working toward this goal, JDRF has taken the lead in translating basic research breakthroughs into cure therapies in such areas as restoring autoimmunity, preventing and reversing complications, islet replacement, beta cell regeneration, and achieving metabolic control. The Foundation creates multidisciplinary programs that bring together diabetes researchers from both academic institutions and industry to find a cure for diabetes and its complications.
Garry is raising funds for this organization’s mission by participating in the Ford Ironman Arizona on Sunday, April 13, 2008. Ironman Triathlon is one of the most grueling events in the world of sport, and also one of the most inspiring. Ironman triathlon features a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike and a complete marathon (26.2 miles) all in succession. Athletes have 17 hours to complete the event (from the 7 a.m. start until midnight). Ironman triathlon had the humblest of beginnings, as a group of Navy Seals who were stationed in Hawaii, were discussing who the fittest athletes in the world were. Were swimmers, cyclists or runners the fittest? Navy commander John Collins decided there was only one way to find out, and that was to combine all three. So on Feb. 18, 1978, 15 competitors decided to put themselves to the test by swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and running 26.2 miles. "Whoever finishes first will be called the Ironman," Collins said. And thus, Ironman Triathlon was born. Since those humble beginnings, the sport of Ironman has developed into an international phenomenon. With 21 Ironman distance events sanctioned races worldwide for 2006, Ironman touches all corners of the globe and has races on all of the continents of the world except Antarctica. Ford Ironman Arizona-Sunday, April 13, 2008: The newest North America Sports event, this event has enjoyed three very successful years Taking place in Tempe and the surrounding area, Ironman Arizona will be the first North America Sports full-distance event each season. For more information about the event please visit http://www.ironmanarizona.com/.
Garry Ash has big goals for this event and his life. Garry’s goals consist of providing for his family, completing the 2008 Ford Ironman Arizona and helping JDRF and Drew to realize the dream of finding a cure for diabetes. Garry found JDRF through a co-worker – Scott Pepin (Drew’s dad) and first encountered the toll that diabetes takes on the entire family during a business meeting when Scott received a call regarding Drew’s blood sugar. Scott explained that diatetes is a disease that is monitored constantly – by every member of the family. Garry saw how diligent Drew and his family are about his care and that despite the Pepin’s dedication toward Drew’s care, there are still episodes of blood sugar swings that threaten Drew’s life, and the unfortunate reality that the risk of complications does not go away. This left such a huge impression on Garry that he did his own research on JDRF and found that 85 cents of every dollar going to research, making it one of the most efficient charities around. As a numbers guy he really liked that. Based on his research and his compassion for children and adults like Drew – Garry has made it his mission to help JDRF and Drew toward this ultimate dream by merging his Ironman competition and accomplishments with his desire to make a difference in the lives of 21 million Americans just like Drew Pepin.
Garry began his journey as an Ironman tri-athlete in 2005 when he realized his health was in a downward spiral. He took it upon himself to begin training for a local triathlon and because of that training he dropped 32 lbs in 18 months and finished a 14 mile bike, 3 mile run and 300 yard swim in just 1 hour 26 minutes. 18 months prior to that race – he wouldn’t have been able to run even 1 mile. That first race, and every race since then, Garry has carried 10 pennies on his body as good luck charms. Garry gave one of those extremely well-traveled pennies to Drew’s mom Kim with a promise to make a difference in their fight to find a cure for diabetes. Garry is asking you, your company, your friends and neighbors to join him in this fight by giving your pennies – one for each mile that Garry travels in this Ironman competition – 141 miles to be exact. He’s asking you to give 141 pennies; 1,410 pennies ($14.10); 14,100 pennies ($141) or even 141,000 pennies ($1410) if you can. Spread the word – if we all found someone to give 141 pennies – we could find 1 million people to give 141 pennies – that would mean $1.41 million for diabetes research and an amazing step toward that cure for Drew and the 21 million others dealing with this disease. 141 pennies isn’t too much to ask – is it?
or by sending a check payable to JDRF to:
141pennies
c/o JDRF NW
1200 6th Ave, Ste 605
Seattle, WA 98101
Please note that the online donation site will accept donations of $10 or more and anything lower than that can be mailed to the address above or online by clicking the following link: Donations of $.01 - $9.99 only.
www.141pennies.org is a fundraising campaign organized by Garry Ash to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation(JDRF). For more information please call JDRF at 206.838.5153 or email spopelka@jdrf.org.
Thank you to these generous donors: Ram International, Donna Towle, Michael Smith, FireKing, Cohesion, Inc., Barbara Bierman, Eleanor Gosiewsk, Lorenzo Family, Chuck Kelly, Mark Lee, and Garry Ash.