On Thursday 23 August, JDRF’s Kids in the House event came to life, a culmination of more than 12 months’ hard work by JDRF staff, advocates and their families to remind politicians of the importance of continuing to fund research to unlock a cure for type 1 diabetes.
Over 100 advocates and their families descended on Canberra, and while the spotlight may have been on the nation’s capital for different reasons, our advocates where there to talk about a far more important set of numbers than those dominating the airwaves. They were there to talk about The Numbers That Count, our new booklet on why funding for the next stage of the Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network (T1DCRN) is so vital, and Numbers, our new short film about living with type 1 diabetes. Each advocate was tasked with sharing the message that Government supporting the T1DCRN with $50m over the next five years will help change the lives of over 120,000 Australians and their families.
The experience began the day before, as families from across the country started to pour into Canberra. On Wednesday night, the families came together to share a dinner kindly sponsored by Novo Nordisk. Over dinner, they were treated to a guest speaker, Justin Morris, a former professional cyclist who has been living with type 1 diabetes since he was a child. Justin delivered a great message of hope to our advocates ahead of their big day on Thursday.
Thursday was certainly a big day, starting with the advocates braving Canberra’s winter chills super early for a live cross with The Today Show. Our thanks to the narrator of our video, Sophie Cameron, and JDRF board member Jonathan Salmon for fronting this piece.
The day then really began, with advocates filing into Parliament House, conducting meetings with their MPs, and attending the premiere screening of Numbers.
Despite the events of the day, 104 out of 118 meetings still took place, and MPs and senators from every state and territory were left in no doubt as to our community’s powerful call for continued support for the T1DCRN.
We will continue to remind Government of the vital importance of the work of the T1DCRN, and look forward to your continued support. We will keep you updated on our progress and how you can assist. In the meantime, check out some photos of what was a truly special day in Canberra.
Photo credits: Mark Graham