Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

BC WILDLIFE PARK

Kamloops raises more than $31,000 at JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes

Jun 10, 2019 | 5:07 PM

KAMLOOPS — More than 300,000 Canadians are living with Type 1 Diabetes.

On Sunday, the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes was held across Canada, including here in Kamloops. The event raises awareness and funds to research the disease, as well as provides support for families living with Juvenile Diabetes.

The sun was shining. The animals were out. It was a beautiful day for a walk around the BC Wildlife Park. Especially when that walk helps raise funds and awareness for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Federation.

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“[The BC Wildlife Park] is so generous and amazing,” Natalie Backerman, Senior Fundraising Coordinator with JDRF told CFJC Today. “We get to walk all around the animal enclosures, around the pollination gardens, we have the water park going. So you get to walk by wolves and bears which is totally unique. I don’t know anywhere else in BC doing anything like this.”

More than 35,000 Canadians from coast-to-coast take part in the JDRF’s Walk to Cure Diabetes. Since 2012, Tanya Mack and her family have been raising funds and coming to the Kamloops edition of the walk.

“My son passed away in 2011. Went into a diabetic coma and never recovered,” Mack explained. “He suffered from Juvenile Diabetes since he was 12.”

Image Credit: CFJC Today

Her son William Cory Olsen passed away one day before his 26th birthday. Tanya and the family have made the annual pilgrimage to the Walk to Cure Diabetes each year, all the way from Bella Coola. This year, she raised more than $3,000 for the cause.

“For me, it’s important to come here and honor his memory,” Mack said.

That money is incredibly important. Not only do the funds raised go to researching a cure for Type 1 Diabetes, but they also help support families living with the disease.

“Kids with Type 1 can have a mentor, or Mom’s with Type 1 children can have mentors,” Backerman explained. “We have program funding towards that, as well as curative and preventative therapies.”

The Kamloops walk raised more than $31,000, with money still rolling in. For Tanya Mack, she hopes a cure for Type 1 Diabetes is discovered, so no other families have to feel the pain of losing a loved one.

“That would be awesome for the families that suffer from Juvenile Diabetes,” Mack said.