Hey everyone!

My name is Chelsea and a little over a year ago my best friend and I started a group called BLYNC which stands for Bringing Light to Your Neighbors and Community. Our website is www.BLYNC.webs.com if you want more information about us, but there's a more specific reason I'm on here right now. Since I was born, diabetes has been very personal in my life. first impacting my grandpa, then my dad, and eventually myself. A little over 6 months ago my grandpa passed away from heart problems and kidney failure due to his diabetes, and at his funeral I swore to myself that I would do whatever I could to help find a cure (or at least better treatment) for this disease. Diabetes is one of our main focuses on BLYNC, so this year we decided to make a team in the JDRF Walk For A Cure events in our area (California and Texas). While trying to build support and come up with a name for our team, we realized just how many people we were walking for. It wasn't just 1 or 2 family members or ourselves, it was friends and family and friends of friends. So many people deal with this disease, and to all of us finding a cure is personal. So we came up with an idea to start a campaign called "It's Personal" where we're encouraging people to send us pictures and/or videos explaining why finding a cure for diabetes is personal to you. I emailed Bill and asked him for some support and he suggested I post something on here. So hopefully someone will read this and take interest! I know for all of you reading this that you have a diabetes story of some sort. All I'm asking is for you to briefly share it so that, when put all together, people can really see the impact of diabetes and the reason they should walk and donate for a cure. For more information or to send your submissions, email us at BLYNCgroup@yahoo.com. Hope to hear from you soon, and thank you for taking the time to read this.

~Chelsea <3