Ten type 1 diabetes advocates chosen for their influence in the diabetes community

Carmel, Ind. May, 1 – Lisa Oberndorfer, executive director and founder of Diabetes Will’s Way (www.diabeteswillsway.com), a nonprofit serving young people in the United States by reducing type 1 diabetes medical costs, is proud to be a winner of The 2019 DiabetesMine Patient Voices Scholarship Contest. Oberndorfer will attend the Innovation Summit held on Nov. 7-8, 2019, at the UCSF Mission Bay biotech conference center.

 Oberndorfer was the first diabetes advocated profiled. Read her interview:

Indiana D-Mom Founds Diabetes Financial Assistance Org. 

According to the contest’s application web page:

DiabetesMine’s Innovation Days bring together informed patient advocates with leading Pharma and medical device leaders, healthcare designers, regulatory experts, clinicians, mobile health experts / visionaries, entrepreneurs, investors, and more.

“I am humbled to receive the DiabetesMine scholarship,” said Oberndorfer. “As a leading provider of diabetes news, DiabetesMine acts as a hub of diabetes information for the families we serve. We are grateful for their work and dedication. I’m excited to learn how I can better serve the diabetes community.”

Diabetes Will’s Way received its 501(c)3 status in April, 2013. The nonprofit organization began after Will Oberndorfer was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of thirteen. Will quickly began fundraising for JDRF Indianapolis. After raising more than $8,000, Will, his mother, and godmother were driven to launch, what was then known as, Will’s Way. 

Diabetes Will’s Way provides two types of grants; a durable medical equipment grant and an emergency cash grant, to children, under the age of 26, who are suffering from type 1 diabetes and have insurance.

Significant growth attributed to a close-knit, type 1 diabetes community

Carmel, Ind. May, 1 – Lisa Oberndorfer, executive director and founder of Diabetes Will’s Way (www.diabeteswillsway.com), a nonprofit serving young people in the United States by reducing type 1 diabetes medical costs, is proud to celebrate its Five-Year Anniversary by awarding its 100th Grant.

Diabetes Will’s Way received its 501(c)3 status in April, 2013. The nonprofit organization began after Will Oberndorfer was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of thirteen. Will quickly began fundraising for JDRF Indianapolis. After raising more than $8,000, Will, his mother, and godmother were driven to launch, what was then known as, Will’s Way.

“We started Will’s Way because Will kept saying he was given this disease for a reason,” said Oberndorfer. “He wanted to help others like him. I agreed. We wanted to help families who had insurance, but received the devastating news that it still wasn’t enough.”

Diabetes Will’s Way provides two types of grants; a durable medical equipment grant and an emergency cash grant, to children, under the age of 26, who are suffering from type 1 diabetes and have insurance.

The nonprofit has increased the grants it awards every year by 25 percent since receiving tax-exempt status. Reaching its 100th grant in 2019 and more than $950 per grant, the organization attributes its significant growth to the families it’s served, diabetes advocates and the endocrinologists who tell families that Diabetes Will’s Way exists.

“We heard about Diabetes Will’s Way at a car auction in Carmel [Indiana],” said Kathy Haupert, mother of eight-year-old grant recipient, Gemma Haupert. “Another type 1 diabetes family was talking about them, and we knew we needed to ask for help.  We needed a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) covered, but were denied by our insurance company multiple times.”

The CGM would allow Haupert to set an alarm to let her know if Gemma’s sugar levels dropped dangerously low overnight. In 2017,  Diabetes Will’s Way awarded the Haupert’s with the funds necessary to purchase a CGM.

“We begin every year with an overwhelming amount of grant requests,” said Oberndorfer. “With the help of the type 1 diabetes community our mission is spreading more rapidly than we could ever have imagined.”

The Diagnosis

Gemma Haupert, 8,  was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in September of 2015 when she was five-years-old. Gemma was not feeling well and was taken to her pediatrician. Her doctor tested her for type 1 diabetes.

“We were sent home, and a few long hours later received a call from our doctor,” said Kathy Haupert, Gemma’s mom. “Her sugar levels were extremely high. We were told to go to the emergency room immediately.”

The Need

The Haupert’s quickly realized Gemma needed a continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

Gemma’s family had insurance, but it did not cover enough of the CGM to make the monitor affordable, or even doable. The CGM would allow Kathy to set an alarm to let her know if Gemma’s sugar levels dropped dramatically overnight.

“I don’t know what we would do without her CGM,” said Kathy. “ It saved her life many times.”

The New Normal

According to Kathy, even though Gemma is young, she is starting to recognize her lows and what it takes to manage her type 1 diabetes well.

Kathy wants people to know:

“It’s not as easy as it looks. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. Diabetes burnout is a real thing. It does not let up. It is very tiring.”

More importantly, she says it’s not about what is type 1 diabetes, but instead it should be about who is Gemma Haupert.

“She’s a trooper; a real fighter. She is such an athlete at heart. She’s not going to let type 1 diabetes win.”

On Sunday June 10th 2018 Diabetes Will’s Way took part in the Diabetes Youth Foundation’s Camp Day Check-In. Joined by vendors from Medtronic, Dexcom, Omni-pod, Novo-norodisk
and Tandem, Diabetes Will’s Way was able to greet campers and their parents and pass out
information regarding their grant process. Board members Chelsea Price and Lisa Oberndorfer
were pleased to see some familiar faces and to make new friends.

According to the Diabetes Youth Foundation of Indiana’s website:

Each year, hundreds of children and teens with diabetes from all over Indiana call Camp Until A Cure home for the month of June. While at camp, they swim, hike, do arts & crafts, take creek walks, play paintball, climb the ropes course, have campfires with songs and skits, do activities centered around diabetes management and skills, and much more!

To date, Diabetes Will’s Way has funded 76 grants and awarded over $70,000 in their quest to help decrease the financial burden incurred by having a child with type 1 diabetes. As Diabetes Will’s Way has grown so has our ability to help more families afford both durable medical equipment and daily diabetic supplies necessary to lead a full and complication-free life. Diabetes Will’s Way will again join the Diabetes Youth Foundation on June 24th and hopes to reach even more families in need of financial help.

For more information about the Diabetes Youth Foundation of Indiana’s summer camps for children with type 1 diabetes visit www.http://dyfofindiana.org/summer-camp/.