These bears will go home with a type 1 warrior to spend the week being their friend. The bear will then come back, ready to visit another type 1 warrior.
A spokesperson behind the project Karen McKinnel said “We are very excited to be launching the Willows T1-derers – the wandering tribe! Basically, in a nut shell….we will have some teddies going out to visit children in Dumfries and Galloway who have type 1 diabetes. Here’s some more information about what we’re all about….
We currently have 6 teddies who were fundraised by Type 1 Best Friends Together and plan to add more to the tribe as we go along. These teddies have a purpose of making the type 1 warriors out there smile! They are there to be a friend throughout the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes….and the teddies even have type 1 diabetes too!! From Luna the leopard, to Harley the horse, we have someone for everyone. They all have different equipment attached to them, some with insulin pumps and some with Continuous Glucose Monitors. And each teddy has their own diagnosis story and journey managing type 1 diabetes.
The idea of this group was mainly put together between myself and my 6 year old daughter (Briana). She has had type 1 diabetes for 5 years now, being 19 months old when diagnosed. Personally seeing her face light up when she sees someone with diabetes equipment or a teddy that she feels is like her, is exactly the sole reason for this. Inclusion! We want others to feel included and like they can relate to everyone that is part of it. We regularly attend the Willows in Dumfries, hence why we included this in the name.
These teddies will travel from door to door of each local type 1 diabetic child/family who follow our tribe. This is new to Dumfries and Galloway, but we are very excited to share this adventure with everyone!
Each teddy will come with their own journal for you to update and you can add posts to our group if you wish. We would love to encourage type 1 warriors to share their thoughts and feelings (if they wish to do so) in the journal too and then others will have the chance to read over these and realise they’re not alone. Our aim is to bring comfort to each family, and to help the type 1 warriors realise how strong they truly are. We want to bring the local type 1 diabetes community closer too and this is the start of the younger community coming together.”
Our wandering tribe look forward to visiting our local type 1 warriors very soon! We are launching at the end of October!
Check out our page for more information HERE
