I'm so excited about this that I have to pinch myself repeatedly!!! Some of our volunteers have organised a Fundraising Music Evening on Saturday 12th August in The Moat Theatre, Naas, Co. Kildare to raise funds for Thriveabetes 2018. Please share this event with your family and friends.

Musical guests will include; Pete Kavanagh, The Cahill Sisters, Hally and special guest, Luka Bloom.

Tickets are €15 and can be purchased in advance (allocated seating) through The Moat Theatre or Telephone: 045 883 030

A lot of you may already know that we need a fundraiser to keep the cost of attending the Thriveabetes Family conference down as much as possible.

As you can imagine, a family event like Thriveabetes costs quite a bit. But I am seriously very proud of the fact that we only have to find 20% of the cost through public fundraising. This is where Pete and Pam Kavanagh stepped up.

Pete is a musician living in Naas, Co. Kildare, whose eight year old son, Cayden, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in February 2016. The Kavanagh’s recently moved back to their home town from Scotland. Pete’s wife, Pam is a website manager and volunteered her services when Thriveabetes needed help with our website and continues to do so.

When I mentioned at our Thriveabetes team meeting that I didn't think I could find the time to pull off a raffle this year, Pam said “Leave it with me”. Sure enough within two weeks, Pete Kavanagh had the venue and all the acts booked!

Read Pam's story here on what Thriveabetes means to her and her family.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP? WE WOULD LOVE YOU TO.

Thriveabetes is very much a community and as a community we would love to have you all involved in the success of this event. There are 3 areas that we would love help with;

1 - MARKETING AND PROMOTION This help would be huge for us as it would increase our chances of having a bum on every seat;-) Pete would love to hear from you if you can help with marketing and promotion. You can reach him at Petebkavanagh@gmail.com or message him on facebook at @PeteKavanaghMusic

2 - SPONSOR RAFFLE PRIZES

We are holding a raffle at the concert and very much need some raffle prizes. Would you, your employer or friends & family be in a position to sponsor a prize? Again Pete would love to hear from you if you can help!

And 3 - SHARE OUR FACEBOOK AND TWITTER POSTS

This is one for everybody. Please share the event on your social media page via Facebook or Twitter Handle - @Thriveabetes You can also share stories of why Thriveabetes is so important for you and what it gives you and your family.

 

WHAT IS THRIVEABETES?

Just in case you are a new follower or subscriber, here is a little background to how thriveabetes all began….

Thriveabetes is a one day conference that brings people who live with type 1 diabetes together in real life. It came about when myself and Christine Meehan, fellow co-founder, attended a diabetes conference in the UK called “Friends for Life” or FFL run by the A-Mazing Children with Diabetes organisation.

As we sat in a room hearing the familiar beeps of blood glucose meters and insulin pumps, we realised that every single person in that room knew diabetes! Both myself and Christine are adults with type 1 diabetes and don't very often find ourselves in a room with lots of other people with type 1 diabetes.

What we found at these conferences were hundreds of people, to be precise 300 families at the FFL in 2014, who were just like us; living with type 1 diabetes. We heard from speakers who knew exactly what our daily challenges were and offered practical solutions through sharing their lives with diabetes with us. I came away from these conferences with so much new information and a renewed focus on managing my diabetes. And feeling less isolated and alone, like I’d found a second home.

Myself, Christine and Rebecca Flanagan asked our Irish Diabetes Online community if they would be interested in having this experience in Ireland. You can guess what the answer was, as we are busily planning the 3rd Thriveabetes Family Conference in February 2018.

Today, Thriveabetes is a group of dedicated volunteers, who give a lot of their time freely and feel passionate about bringing people with type 1 diabetes together where we can bring our online connections into real life. The Thriveabetes conferences focus on our social and psychological needs in living with diabetes rather than our medical needs.

Email grainne@thriveabetes.ie Thriveabetes takes place on Saturday 24th February 2018 in The Red Cow Hotel, Dublin.

Over the summer we will be confirming speakers for our programme. We have already confirmed Moira McCarthy Standford. Rregistration will open in October. Stay tuned.