Diabetes Hope Foundation & Pumping the Cure for Diabetes
DHF’s Alumni Legacy Scholarship
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Hi everyone! It has been a very long time since I last wrote – I have been super busy with my new job. I am currently working as a marketing and communications consultant for various clients, including Peak Multifamily Investments and Accenture.
I first began working as a Communications Officer in the financial industry in 2016, later being promoted to a Program Analyst & Content Creator. After now working in the communications and marketing fields for about six years, I can definitely say that I have learned so much. I am extremely lucky for this learning experience - I look forward to continue learning a lot more and meeting new people whom I can potentially network with. As you may know, I graduated in June 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts, Honours degree in Media and Communication Studies, Popular Culture, and Film Studies from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. I absolutely love the content I learned throughout my four years in school – public relations, creative and digital marketing, advertising, journalism, social media, film theory, audience studies, among others – and learning this has absolutely inspired me to create this blog and continue writing about diabetes and my experiences living with this disease for others to learn that diabetes can also be viewed in a positive light. A small recap about my story with type 1 diabetes – I was diagnosed on April 1, 2003, at the age of eight years old (Happy April Fools!). My mom was familiar with diabetes as my grandmother had it, and thus, my mom had suspected my early diabetes symptoms for a few months before my diagnosis. At the time of this occurrence, I used to be in competitive gymnastics, competitive dance, choir and violin lessons with various friends. However, all of these extra curricular activities had to be put on hold, causing me to fall behind. When being diagnosed, I was very unfamiliar of the struggle that I would have to endure for the next “few weeks”… according to my mom (haha). Little did I know it would be for the rest of my life (as of now; fingers crossed for a cure!). Little by little I learned how to check my blood glucose, take my own insulin needles, recognize my high and low blood sugars and count carbohydrates. I began to recognize that although diabetes makes me feel ill for a large amount of my every day, it has definitely made me a stronger person. I would not be nearly as independent or responsible as I am now if I was not diabetic, especially from such a young age. I have worked extremely hard on myself - my goals, my relationships, and especially my health. Blogging has also served as a way for me to work on myself by expressing my feelings and sharing them with all of you. Meeting diabuddies online has been life-changing! |
This is me in 2003 - the year I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Although it was a hard time in my life, I was still a happy kid and did not let it stop me!
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All of my hard work (and parents' encouragement and support) have led me to find ways in which I can help the diabetic community. After working on Pumping the Cure for a few years, I am very proud to announce that I have teamed up with Diabetes Hope Foundation (DHF) to raise funds towards Pumping the Cure’s new scholarship for 2021! DHF has a scholarship program in which high school graduates with diabetes are awarded scholarships for their grades, community involvement, and diabetes control every year. That being said, my goal is to award a new graduate a scholarship under Pumping the Cure and give back to my community - as I was one of those graduates that received a DHF scholarship in 2012 from the Nancy Ryce Fund.
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By doing this, I am supporting youth living with diabetes to raise funds in support of DHF’s Alumni Legacy Scholarship. I first began raising funds (with the help of DHF) by selling Circle of Hope necklaces (see image displayed). However, I have now decided to solely include a donation page where no minimum (nor maximum) amount of funds are needed in order to donate to the cause. 100% of ALL proceeds will go towards Pumping the Cure’s 2021 scholarship for the Diabetes Hope Foundation alumni legacy scholarship program.
I feel that raising money for a new scholarship recipient will not only help me accomplish something special and meaningful, but I will have the chance to give back - which will definitely help a new graduate in the new year. It has been a long process but I am so proud to say that it has come along with the help of Barbara Pasternak (Chair of DHF), Anita Nardella, Karen Higginson, Vivian Li and Kristin Herriott, all part of the DHF team (THANK YOU!). Helping a fellow diabetic is extremely meaningful to me because as a high school senior, I struggled learning about the costs of university and the new expenses I'd have to take on as a young woman while in university. With the help of the Diabetes Hope Foundation & Nancy Ryce Fund, I was able to pay off part of my tuition for my first year of university, which helped me tremendously. I look forward to next year's scholarship ceremony and experience someone else's happiness as my own - seeing a hard-working diabetic get rewarded will be the best payback I could ever ask for. 
That being said, if you are interested in helping out the Diabetes Hope Foundation, please visit:
If you are interested in helping me raise funds for Pumping the Cure's 2021 scholarship, please visit:
IT WOULD MEAN THE WORLD TO ME AND TO OUR FUTURE GRADUATE!
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Me wearing my Circle of Hope necklace.
xoxo,
Malala |