Thriveabetes 2016 Registration now open

Myself, Rebecca, Christine, Ken and Davina are thrilled to announce that Thriveabetes 2016 registration is now open. (and holding our breaths!!!). Thriveabetes is a one day conference for people living with type 1 diabetes on Saturday, October 1st 2016 in The Killashee House Hotel, Naas, Co. Kildare.

Registration closes at midnight on the 29th September 2016.

Advanced registration is required in order to attend Thriveabetes.

However, before you buy your tickets for this conference, take a moment to read through "Who should attend Thrive-abetes?" The link to register is at the bottom of this post.

Who Should Attend Thriveabetes?

• Adults with type 1 or type 1.5 diabetes (aka LADA; Latent autoimmune diabetes of adults).

• Partners, Spouses and Significant Others of Adults with type 1/1.5 Diabetes.

• Parents/Guardians/Carers of children/young people with type 1 diabetes.

• Young adults, teens,  and school-age children, aged 5 and upwards, with type 1 diabetes and their siblings. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate children under that age of 5.

• Health care professionals who work with type 1 diabetes

Ticket Price

Adult & Parent Tickets -  €35 each, or 2 tickets for €60 (this includes the administration fee from Eventbrite.ie).

Child ticket - €15 per child, up to 2 children. Children must be aged 5 and upwards.

Family Ticket - €100 covers 2 adults and 3+ children

What Does your Ticket Price Include?

• Admission to all sessions.
• Admission to the exhibit hall
• Lunch and two beverage breaks are included.

Our Cancellation & Refund Policy

Cancellations will be issued up to and until midnight on September 29th, 2016

From midnight on September 29th, 2016, no refunds will be available.

Conference Programme & Speakers

Our conference programme is in development and will be published on our website in the coming months.

Confirmed Speakers, so far:

• Gary Scheiner, author of “Think like a Pancreas”, Certified Diabetes Educator, Clinical Director of Integrated Diabetes Services in Pennsylvania, and person with type 1 diabetes.
• Joe Solowiejczyk, Certified Diabetes Educator, Clinical Family and Adult Therapist, author of "A Type 1 Diabetes Guide to the Universe" and Person with type 1 diabetes.
• Gavin Griffiths, The DiAthlete, Ultramarathon runner, International Diabetes Federation Young Leader and person with type 1 diabetes
• Anna Clarke, Health Promotion and Research Manager at Diabetes Ireland
• Penny Robinson, Mum of child with type 1 diabetes and advocate for families with diabetes

Register here.

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And the Winners are....

The Thriveabetes Raffle winners were drawn on Saturday, April 30th, in Glor Theatre, Ennis, Co. Clare. We enlisted the help of Imelda who was working at the front desk. Thank you so much for helping, Imelda. We raised an amazing €2,300 through ticket sales which puts a big dent in covering the overall costs of our venue hire for Thriveabetes 2016. Registration for Thriveabetes is due to go live on Tuesday May 10 which will be announced though our blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

 And without further ado, the winners are......

1st Prize  One Night, Bed & Breakfast at The Killashee House Hotel, sponsored by The Killashee House Hotel, Naas, Co. Kildare goes to;

Kathryn Cooney, Co. Antrim

2nd Prize Signed 2015 6Nations Ireland Rugby shirt signed by Paul O'Connell and sponsored by Davina, John & the team at DiabetesTone.com goes to; 

Eamonn O'Reilly, Co. Kildare

3rd, 4th & 5th Prize Three Calvin Klein overnight bags, sponsored by Davina, John & the team at DiabetesTone.com . One per winner goes to;

Aoife Boyle, Co. Limerick Breeda Garrihy, Co. Clare Dermot Cawley, Co. Limerick

Congratulations to all our winners!

Thanks to everyone who volunteered to sell raffle tickets - you are amazing and can't wait to meet all of you at Thriveabetes. Also, a huge thank you to everyone who supported Thriveabetes by buying a ticket! I wish you could all be winners! And another huge thanks to our prize sponsors; The Killashee House Hotel and DiabetesTone.

The O'Sullivan D-Mum

This is our first parent of a child/young person with type 1 diabetes. We hope to continue our series of profiles for as long as they keep coming in. If you are interested in writing a piece for Thriveabetes please let me know. We’d love to have you! Email me at Grainne@thriveabetes.ie. Don't forget to tell your friends and family about our fundraiser raffle. There are just a few raffle tickets left. All the proceeds of this raffle will go towards the cost of Thriveabetes 2016. Please support us by buying your tickets here. You may even win your accommodation for the conference? Tickets are on sale online until 5pm, Friday, 29th April. Best of luck!

Introducing D-Mum Julie

Julie O’Sullivan is at stay at home mum to two teenagers; Neil aged 19 years and Abbie aged 17 years. She says that she “loves em, but sometimes  ya want to kill em! I think any mum of teens can relate.

Julie’s daughter Abbie had gotten very thin, when she was 11 years old. “I noticed her drinking a lot and she'd complain of tummy aches. I thought hormones, growth spurt, or maybe her periods were about to start when I took her to the doctor.”

When the GP checked Abbie’s blood glucose it was 25 mmols/l. He explained to Julie that they should be within a range of 4 -7 mmols/l. What Julie saw on the blood glucose meter was a big difference. He sent them straight to A&E; “Boy, did we get our brains fried trying to learn it all at once”. Julie felt that her little girl looking at her asking to make it all better mommy but she couldn't.

A blood glucose monitor has now become apart of every minute of the O’Sullivan household daily life.

“The next two years were hard on everyone. Abbie was on a rollercoaster of highs and lows. I was so stressed trying to keep it as normal as possible but anything planned had to suit our injections, meals, snacks, making sure all her stuff was with us at all times. I really felt I lost close friends in that time. They just didn't get that there is so much to do when you have a child with type 1 diabetes. My son felt it was always about Abbie, even though I tried my best to give them both the same attention.

Five years on since Abbie was diagnosed, she has worked so hard with her carb counting. We waited 3 years to get pump and it's not going back. There were some hairy days at the start with her pump but it was SO worth it.

Yes! Being the Parent of a child with type 1 diabetes does change everything. My healthy baby girl is now dependant on insulin for the rest of her days. Our days of just getting up and not worry about blood sugars are here to stay. She is my brave little soldier, just gets on with it, so proud of her.

We are on this Rollercoaster Ride and we are just holding on tight, taking the bumps but enjoying the thrills.”

Julie O Sullivan. Tralee, Co. Kerry