It all started when...

One night after school, shortly after I was diagnosed, my mom saw me gathering up some of my stuffed animals and I had a dollar in my hand. She asked me what I was doing and where I got the dollar. I told her it was for my business. She was like “Ummm what business Jack? What are you up to now?” By now my dad had come into the room and was interested to see where this was going. I told them I was going to rent my stuffed animals to my friends at school for $1 per week. They looked very confused and asked me why I would do that…

I answered, “I’m going to raise money to give to scientists to help find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes.”

Mom and Dad were speechless. I think they even started to cry a little. They hugged me and said that it was awesome that I wanted to get involved and raise money for research. They said my head and my heart were in the right place and together we would find a way to make a difference. So I scrapped the idea of renting my stuffed animals (for now…).

Mom asked me if I could do anything at all to help newly diagnosed kids like me, what would it be? I told her that I would want every kid to have a shot blocker while they were in the hospital. I DID NOT LIKE GETTING SHOTS. I kicked, screamed, cried and tried to run away every time I had to get a shot. Even after we came home from the hospital I still had a hard time adjusting. My mom found this thing called a Shot Blocker online that helps to make getting shots less painful. I used it for a few weeks and it made me feel so much better. And before I knew it, I didn’t need it anymore and I stopped using it. I told Mom that I really wanted every kid to have one in the hospital.

Mom asked me what else I had while I was in the hospital that made me feel good. My parents bought me the softest teddy bear from the hospital gift shop that made me feel really happy – I named him Chocolate.  They also got me a medical alert bracelet that I could wear to let people know that I was insulin dependent in case I ever passed out or got hurt. I thought that was super important to have. I now have a new one with a metal name plate that has my parents’ phone numbers engraved in it, but that first bracelet was perfect until I got my permanent one. I told Mom that I wished that I had a squishy ball that I could have squeezed when I was getting shots in the hospital or when they were changing my IV.

It was from this conversation with my mom that Jack’s Hope in a Box was born. We decided to create an Amazon wish list with all the items for my boxes and people could help donate what they could. We even added a few other fun things to the boxes. Mom ordered some of each item and made up a sample box. It was SO COOL!

In October 2017 I was asked by a family member – aka Johnny Ski – if I would want to speak at a fundraising event for JDRF that he has been organizing and running for the past 14 years. He wanted me to share with everyone what it was like living with Type 1 Diabetes. I was SOO nervous but I really liked the idea and wanted to help spread awareness. I gave a two minute speech and everyone said I did an awesome job. I even made Johnny Ski cry! And then Johnny Ski, his wife Debbie Ski along with more family members Keith and Stephanie made me the happiest kid on earth… Together they had ordered 100 of every single item in my Jack’s Hope in a Box – including the boxes! Their generosity blew me away and I was so incredibly grateful.

So, after the event, I worked on putting my boxes together and on November 14, 2017 – WORLD DIABETES DAY – I presented all 100 boxes to the staff at my hospital. It was enough boxes to distribute to newly diagnosed kids for one year! It felt amazing.

So now my journey continues and I’m working on filling even more boxes for the upcoming year. I hope that each kid who receives my box knows that they are not alone and that they are now a T1D warrior who can overcome anything - just like me.

I had so much fun assembling and filling all of the boxes!