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Unite for Diabetes - Geocaching Promotion


Bryan

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As an avid geocacher, an active member of the geocaching community and as a diabetic, I would like to thank Groundspeak for their support of this project. Geocaching has been a large part of helping me deal with this disease and has aided greatly in my management of it. Anything that we can do to help increase awareness about the dangers of diabetes is time well spent. Together we can make a difference. Thank you.

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And there is indeed a link to this site from the GeoCaching.com website,

though why they would hide it in a subpage is beyond me, here;

http://www.geocaching.com/track/

 

We're starting to incorporate it more on the web site. You guys are the first to know (which is pretty common for new site features and whatnot). A larger emailer will go out with the Weekly Cache Notifications on Thursday.

 

(My grandmother has diabetes too)

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I do not want to hijack this thread, but I sent an email thanking a Groundspeak employee for this project and they requested that I post this here and share just how important an issue this is. So here is an excerpt from my heartfelt thank you to Groundspeak for addressing this very serious issue.

 

"I just wanted to drop you a line to say thank you for your support of the Unite for Diabetes project. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes a year and a half ago and it was devastating. One of the things that really helped bring me through the stress of the massive lifestyle change that I had to make was geocaching. Being able to get out into the woods and have my cares drift away, really helped bring me through a diffcult time. Since then, I have gotten serious about dealing with the disease and geocaching has continued to play a major role in my diabetes management program. I have adapted my hiking gear to accomodate testing supplies and medications that have to be refrigerated, and geocaching has helped me choose destinations to carry that gear to. Since , I buckled down and began to deal with this problem, I have quit smoking and lost 130 lbs. Just check my gc.com gallery for proof, of what an incredible difference caching has made for me. There were several people at GeoWoodstock IV that had not seen me in a year, who did not recognize me, it is funny, but that inspired me to keep working harder to make things better.

 

In addition to the exercise that I get while out hunting and hiding, geocaching has made a huge difference in dealing with diabetes for me, in the support I have received from friends that I have made through geocaching. When I was first diagnosed, I was embarased about it and did not want anyone to know, but I realized that there would be no way to hide the shots and the testing from my caching buddies, we just spend too much time on the road together. So one night at dinner, I made the announcement and I was overwhelmed by the support, and more than that it showed me that nothing had changed, they did not condemn me for my disease, they just settled in and asked what they could do to help. The great progress I have made over the last year and a half would not have been possible without their encouragement and support.

 

As I began to drop weight and become far more active, I decided that maybe I could help other folks in our geocaching community who were dealing with physical challenges. I went public with the community at large about my disease and about what I was doing to get into better shape physically and emotionally to deal with it. Since then, I have organized group hikes to get some of our more sedentary members out walking the trails and have even put together a couple of Middle Tennessee Geocachers Club events to encourage folks to be more active in the outdoors. In addition to this, I have answered tons of questions for folks who were trying to make positive changes in their lives as well. Although, I was nervous about doing it, I feel that by going public about dealing with diabetes I have encouraged others to deal with their problems and I am working hard everyday to lead by example in our community.

 

Just a quick example of the kind of support I have received from geocachers, we had a holiday club event last Saturday night that included a potluck dinner. Of course, I make sure that I bring something healthy for me to eat and generally skip desserts, but this week my friends made that more difficult. When we began to set up the buffet tables, there was an entire section that we had to devote to sugar-free desserts. I was moved nearly to tears. These were not "store-bought" desserts. Several of my geocaching friends and some folks that I barely know took the time to research sugar-free recipes and prepare them from scratch so that we, as one of them put it, "would have something special for the big monkey". I know it sounds silly, but to have so many people go out of their way to do something nice for you, is really touching. I joked with my wife that if they would have just turned the music up and faded the lights out at that point we would have had our own Christmas special. I joke, but I teared up while writing this, you just cannot imagine how much it meant to me to have them working so that my life "feels normal".

 

So thank you for this project, as you can tell this is important to me. If there is anything I can do to help, in any way, just let me know.

 

Thank you again, this means alot to me and I know it does to thousands of other geocachers as well.

 

Monkeybrad"

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Whew ok I am in tears. I also signed up for the Diabetes TB. I donot have diabetes not does anyone in my family. I do work closely with several people who have been diagnosed. My TB mission shall be something like take a picture of you walking, smelling the fresh air, smiling and being purely positive. I hope to help in any way possible. Thank you to everyone, for their contributions on this.

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As an avid geocacher, an active member of the geocaching community and as a diabetic, I would like to thank Groundspeak for their support of this project. Geocaching has been a large part of helping me deal with this disease and has aided greatly in my management of it. Anything that we can do to help increase awareness about the dangers of diabetes is time well spent. Together we can make a difference. Thank you.

I'll second this, all of it. Geocaching gave me a reason to get off my duff and get the exercise I need to help control my diabetes. This is a terrific project; my request for one of the travel bugs has been submitted, and I've signed the UN petition for the fight against diabetes.

 

--Larry

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Oy. This looks to be like one of those threads where anyone who disagrees is going to get flamed. My dad has diabetes that almost killed him. He should have known by the big pit that his sweat was gnawing into his matress. Still, one has to wonder how the heck the United Nations proposes to raise awareness. They seem to produce a lot of resolutions, but not a lot of verifiable results. There has got to be a better way. Well, that's my $0.02, so flame me.

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