DRIFCan

Today we recognize the milestones in the history of insulin, while acknowledging that there is still work to do to find a cure.

Thanks to Cosmopolitan International for inviting us to be a part of your convention here in Edmonton and for supporting the research of Dr Shapiro and his team.
What a great event!

Cheers to Great News! 🏌️‍♂️🥤

We are excited to announce that DRIFCan is our Beverage Sponsor for this year's Golf Tournament! 🥳🥤⛳️

A huge thank you to DRIFCan for your generous support. Your sponsorship keeps our participants refreshed and helps us continue our mission to support Families Facing Diabetes.

We look forward to seeing everyone on the green!

To all our friends in the USA….Happy 4th of July 🇺🇸

We are in Edmonton….

WOW….what an incredible community that we are so lucky to be a part of and receive support from! The video at the end is amazing!!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this year's T1D4x4x48 Diabetes Fundraising Weekend a success! Our goal is to raise $100,000 this year for DRIFCan, and you can help us get there by checking out t1d4x4x48.com and clicking DONATE to add to our online total!
Watch our video at this link to see our T1D4x4x48 Ultramarathon Weekend total.
👉 https://youtu.be/whObOAd51xI?si=frqyERqWEMGYDtK2
DRIFCan

The end of the ultramarathon is always an emotional one. It is a celebration of the hard work done to raise funds for DRIFCan. But maybe more importantly the recognition of how hard it is to live with diabetes and how desperate we are for a cure. .4x4x48

The bell is a significant piece on the 4x4x48 ultramarathon. When you've made it half way on the leg of the race you grab the rope and make it ring. The ring is a reminder that you are creating action to find a cure for Diabetes. The hope is to one day not need to ring the bell. .4x4x48

Maria, a Humboldt and Area T1D co-chair dressed as Dr. Shapiro for the Superhero run. .4x4x48

So proud to be a part of this amazing diabetes community!

Tomorrow is our Annual Community Walk for Diabetes! We're always excited to get together with our diabetes families to raise awareness!

Stay afterwards for a free BBQ sponsored by A&W!

Then, at 2pm, we're proud and excited to host a live zoom with Dr. Shapiro, the man with the cure!!! He'll be answering your questions about his research.

Please note, this year our walk registration will be in Jubilee Hall, Humboldt Uniplex

DRIFCan T1D 4x4x48 #

The superhero run was a big hit with many supporters hitting the trail! Melanie our executive director got a ride on the side by side and we did a little photoshoot. The Humboldt & Area Team T1D is a small but mighty group. They are passionate about funding a cure for Diabetes just like us!
T1D 4x4x48

So much has happened already today. We've arrived in Humboldt and have started to support and celebrate the accomplishments of the Humboldt & Area Team T1D. .4x4x48

We are so proud and excited to be attending the Humboldt & Area T1D events this coming weekend.
Follow along on our journey…..

Thank you Lions Club of Chipman for hosting us and our partner University Hospital Foundation to talk all things diabetes research.

It’s that time of year again for the Kids N Us Conference. Proud to be a sponsor and supporting families living with T1D!

We love our friends in Humboldt & Area! If you are in Saskatchewan and wanna give a hand please connect with them on their socials.

Truth Tuesday

I was supposed to write and post Sunday's Story, but Jason, Maria, and I are, like everyone else this spring, getting busier with family responsibilities. We were 'late' on each of our fb post goals for last week. We're starting to feel the days left before our event shrinking too fast. If you have been following and wondered why there wasn't a Sunday Story, I am sorry!
Building a $100,000 fundraising weekend event is a huge undertaking, and the three of us want to make it amazing for all of you. Not just amazing, but life changing. Memorable. This event has that potential and has already been that for some last year. But here's the truth -we need help. We need people to help us gather auction items, do errands, sell tickets. We need people to help us with marketing and planning and organizing. And we will need people around that week to help set up and manage it all with us.
It's maybe more than we should have bitten off. More than we can chew. But how do you tell yourself that it's ok to slow down, when the cure is so close. When your daughter is too young to know the realities of this disease, but she sadly very much knows. We are so grateful for this team, the connections we have been able to make or encourage for ourselves and other families, and we will continue running, no matter what. But burnout can happen to a diabetic when there is no break. And at that point you surround yourself with support so that you can keep going.

So let us know if you have time to support.

We can't wait to cross that finish line together, incredibly proud of what we've all accomplished.

Cailin

It’s that time of year again…. Let’s help make this a successful fundraiser. Thank you Byers family and BG Greenhouses!

🌟Great News!🌟

The 2024 Kids “n’ Us: Families Facing Diabetes Conference is proud to have DRIFCan (the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation Canada) as the volunteer sponsor of this year’s event.

DRIFCan’s mission is to directly fund cure-based diabetes research conducted by Dr. James Shapiro and the team at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Established in 2005 to fund the Edmonton Protocol. Dr. Shapiro and his team believe that donors supporting diabetes research want as much funding to go directly to cure based research. DRIFCan funds clinical and human trials with Dr. Shapiro and his team

DRIFCan representatives will be at the 2024 Kids ‘n’ Us: Families Facing Diabetes Conference to answer questions about current research and ongoing clinical and human trials with Dr. Shapiro and his team.

📆 Date: May 4th, 2024
🕰 Time: 8:30 am - 4:00 pm
📍 Location: CHATEAU LOUIS CONFERENCE CENTER 11727 Kingsway NW, Edmonton, AB T5G 3A1
Google Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/hkNxNtx2D8sUeyKu6
💲 Price: $20 (only till March 31, 2024)
✅ Register: https://kidsnus.ca/registration/

Hope to see you there….

🌟Dr. Andrew Pepper is our Research Update Speaker at our 2024 Conference.

He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Alberta and a Canada Research Chair in Cell Therapies for Diabetes. He completed his BMSc in Microbiology and Immunology at Western University in 2007 and his PhD in Pathology at Western University with Dr. David White in 2012. From 2012 to 2018, Dr. Pepper was a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. James Shapiro’s laboratory and a member of the Clinical Islet Transplant Program at the University of Alberta.

His studies range from in vitro models to clinical beta cell replacement therapies, including designing graft-localized immunomodulatory technologies, improving the function of pancreatic beta cell grafts and optimizing alternative beta cell sources.

2024 Conference:
📆 Date: May 4th, 2024
🕰 Time: 8:30 am - 4:00 pm
📍 Location: CHATEAU LOUIS CONFERENCE CENTER 11727 Kingsway NW, Edmonton, AB T5G 3A1
Google Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/hkNxNtx2D8sUeyKu6
💲 Price: $20 (only till March 31, 2024)
✅ Register: https://kidsnus.ca/registration/

DRIFCan is in Drayton Valley at the Lions Club District C1 Annual Conference alongside the University Hospital Foundation to present on Dr Shapiro and his research. Thank you Caroline Thompson with UHF for partnering with us for this great event!

Melanie Hibbard is the Executive Director of DRIFCan and this is her account of what that first phone call was like for her.

“I remember getting that first call from Cailin. I saw a number from Humboldt and thought that’s interesting I don’t know anyone from there. Answering that call was one of the best decisions I ever made! Cailin told me about Humboldt & Area T1D and Jason’s run and all the other ideas for fundraising. They wanted to know more about DRIFCan and what we fund and if we could work together. It was like we had known each other forever. Of course we were all in to do whatever we could to support the team.
On a personal note, as I have 2 kids with T1D, connecting with all the families affected by diabetes in Humboldt has been amazing! I always say this is a club no one ever wants to be a part of but if we had to choose one, this one has the most amazing people, no matter where you live. Each year my husband and I look forward to our annual trip now to Humboldt to participate in the 4x4x48 weekend and in November for the puck toss with the Broncos. It is such an honour to be included in this incredible community! The funding that comes from all the work of this group has helped move Dr Shapiros cure based research forward. My mantra is one day we are going to have one hell of a party to celebrate the cure and it’ll be with the most amazing people.”

And that’s a wrap!

Day 7…travel day or two…hmmm what day is it anyways? We got up Friday morning at 6am Dubai time to attend meetings all day in Abu Dhabi then back to Dubai to pack up and fly out Saturday morning at 2am….lets look at it from Edmonton time…the above means it was Thursday at 7pm in Edmonton that we were up and at meetings and started and now arriving back home on Saturday at 2pm in Edmonton time🤪 our trip was delayed leaving as they did not have a back up pilot crew as we needed 2 on board for the 16 hour flight. So what happens then? Well we get diverted to St Johns Newfoundland of course for a new crew and fuel the plane. During this travel time we saw the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Pacifc Ocean. Pretty cool!