“I was asked by our Regional Canadian Diabetes Association office to write myself up as a Diabetes Champion. So I’ll start with a disclaimer -I don’t claim to be a champion. I do what I do for diabetes research and programs because both my daughter Kate and my niece Leah have type 1 diabetes. Kate was diagnosed 16 years ago at the age of 7, and that was enough for me to decide to do something about diabetes – I just didn’t know what I could do. Then I saw some PR for Team Diabetes Canada, and ended up running Amsterdam in 2001. Next, we founded a Speakers Bureau here in eastern Ontario, and I was one of the trainers. That led to getting involved in advocacy at the provincial level, and eventually MC’ing several advocacy conferences across Canada. Hey, I’ve even begged for bottles at the local beer store! The real champions are my daughter and my niece – I just do what I can to support them and the millions of Canadians whose lives are in some way touched by diabetes.”