This past Saturday marked the first Mady’s Motorcycle Run for Juvenile Diabetes in Nesquehoning. The donation fee was $25 for one rider and $5 for an additional passenger. Participants registered from 8-10 a.m. at the Bio-Haz Solutions Inc. on 23 Tonoli Road before making their departure for Knoebels Amusement Resort. Once arriving at the park, riders were treated with food and a 50/50 raffle at the pavilions.

Mady, who had been healthy all of her life, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last November at the age of 3.

Those diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes have immune systems that attack the pancreas and interfere with insulin production. As a result, Type 1 diabetics have special dietary needs and they have to closely monitor their blood glucose levels. There is no set reason for why this condition manifests in certain individuals, but research is currently in progress to determine this as well as find a cure.

Mady’s mom, Jenn Reynolds, talked about some of the challenges of parenting a young child with Type 1 diabetes.

“If she’s running around and she’s very active, her level (blood glucose level) will drop so fast that I have to get sugar into her to get it back up again. Sometimes it’s hard to get her number back up again because she’s got so much energy since she’s an active 4-year-old girl. Sometimes she’s so high and when she’s high she’s super hungry and I gotta watch what I give her. It’s gotta be like a protein, like a meat. I can’t give her a cookie. I gotta give her something healthier.”

Along with lifestyle adjustments, there are medical costs the Reynolds family faces as well. Even with double insurance it still doesn’t fully cover all of Mady’s medical care. Additionally, the family faces transportation expenses to travel to Lehigh Valley for medical care since Carbon County does not have the facilities to fully accommodate Type 1 diabetics.

By hosting this event, Jenn hopes to alleviate costs for Mady and other children with Type 1 diabetes in the community as well as bring awareness to Type 1 diabetes in school systems and the general public. Furthermore, she hopes to make Mady’s Motorcycle Run for Juvenile Diabetes a recurring event in the future.

Mady proudly wears her two insulin pumps “like badges of honor,” according to her mother, who discussed how she would like to see younger representation of Type 1 diabetes in the media.

“I think that if they show more people that are younger, like on Disney Channel, they should show their (insulin) pump and not be afraid. Or when they’re showing little kids modeling Penney, why not show a kid with a pump?”

To donate or learn more about Type 1 diabetes research, visit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation website at jdrf.org.