Why I support JDRF

On Thursday evening, I attended the JDRF Type-1 Adult Meetup in New York City.  It was a great chance to meet some of the friends I’ve made online, but now in real life.  It was also a chance to meet others who I’d not known previously: like the woman who was diagnosed fifty years ago, the mother whose infant son had T1 before she did, and the twentysomething who learned of his insulin-dependence just a few years ago.

To many, JDRF is all about finding a cure.  Or at least it should be about that, they say.  I’ve read and heard the criticisms: that they throw too much support towards the Artificial Pancreas, that they are negligent in not supporting Dr. Faustman’s research, that that they’re a sell-out to big Pharma and big business, and pretty much any other conspiracy theory you can come up with.

I don’t believe it.