Mother of T1D Uses Cups of Hope to Raise Awareness
by REBEKAH PIERCE
It’s the little things in life that make it so meaningful – and for families affected by type 1 diabetes, it might truly be as simple as sharing a good cup of coffee.
Katie Schmid started the Polk County chapter of Cups of Hope shortly after her son, Maguire, was diagnosed with the life-altering illness.
“The diagnosis came as a complete surprise and shock to our family,” she recalls. “Beyond the nurses and the physician we saw in Tampa, no one we encountered understood this disease and what it meant unless they had personal experiences themselves with it.”
Also known as insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes, type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the pancreas makes little to no insulin. There are a variety of factors, including genetics, that lead to the disease, which is typically diagnosed in childhood. It has no cure.
While the symptoms are treatable, it can be incredibly overwhelming for a family to process a new diagnosis, to say nothing of the implications that diagnosis will have on their future.
The Inspiration Behind Cups of Hope
Shortly after Maguire was diagnosed, Katie Schmid and her family attended an event in downtown Lakeland called the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) One Walk with Breakthrough T1D. Schmid was overwhelmed with emotion when she saw how supportive the community was and wanted to keep the conversations going. After hearing about a similar support group for type 1 diabetics in Pasco County, she decided to start her own initiative to spread the love, and Cups of Hope was born in Lakeland.
Cups of Hope also falls under the umbrella of Breakthrough T1D, which, in addition to hosting the walk, advocates tirelessly for families dealing with type 1 diabetes. In 2015, Schmid and her son were invited to Washington, D.C.
“These children were able to meet with our leaders and ask for funding for continued research towards a cure, as well as research for insulin pumps, continued glucose monitors, and improvements in insulin.”
To this day, Schmid remains involved in advocacy and outreach, continuing to seek funding for research and better insurance coverage for insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, and to cap the cost of insulin. She’s the Advocacy Team Chair for the Northern Florida Chapter of Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF).
Cups of Hope also has a branch in Sarasota, which has regular guest speakers who present to the group — something Schmid is thinking about expanding to her Lakeland branch in the future.
For now, she says, the meetings are just about sipping on coffee and sharing our stories.
“Our meetings are very informal and simple. We meet at a local coffee shop and we just sit around and talk. We talk about navigating the school system and share experiences with school nurses, lunch rooms, teachers and administration.” The group even shares advice on navigating sleepovers, camps, birthday parties, field trips, and more.
This support group is particularly precious, Schmid says, because it connects people who are dealing with the disease with a like-minded, educated community. After her son’s diagnosis, Schmid says, “We were, and are still, constantly asked if it is now under control or if he has outgrown it. You cannot cure yourself from type one diabetes. You can learn to manage your life around it, but it is always there, 24/7, for the rest of your life.”
Schmid’s goal in starting the Cups of Hope chapter is twofold: to provide support to the families who are “in the trenches,” so to speak, in dealing with this disease, as well as to educate the general public about what having type 1 diabetes truly means.
Awareness is the name of the game, she says, both “to understand the disease and also awareness to know the early signs of type one diabetes so that you can get your child diagnosed before it becomes life-threatening.”
How to Get Involved
The next Cups of Hope meetup is Wednesday, November 10 at 10 a.m. at Mitchell’s Coffeehouse in downtown Lakeland. Schmid encourages interested families to check out their Facebook page (Cups of Hope – Polk County) and most importantly, to continue to spread the word to others.
“There will come a day when you realize you need people who have done this and are doing this alongside you,” Schmid says. “Find your people. Find the people for your kids. They need to know they are not alone…and so do we.”