Breakthrough T1D One Walk team captain Emily King is an endocrinologist and has lived with type 1 diabetes (T1D) for more than 30 years. That didn’t make her son Griffin’s diagnosis any less shocking.
Griffin was 1 year old when he started waking up in the morning with overly saturated diapers. “I did not think he had type 1 diabetes because he looked so healthy, but I figured that since I had a glucometer, I might as well check just to reassure myself,” Emily said. “I pricked his toe, and his blood sugar was over 500.”
She consulted with one of her former mentors from her pediatric endocrinology fellowship and started Griffin on insulin right away.
Why Emily Walks
Today, both Emily and Griffin use automated insulin delivery (AID) systems, which consist of an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor. This technology makes managing T1D easier and safer, especially when Griffin is at preschool.
Emily remembers the days of finger pricks and insulin shots. “It was a very crude regimen and extremely difficult to achieve target A1C goals,” she said. She is amazed and grateful for the progress that has been made since her diagnosis. “Much of the advances in technology and new therapies for T1D, from which Griffin and I benefit every day, are due to Breakthrough T1D-funded research.”
This is why Emily and her family participate in the Breakthrough T1D One Walk.
First Steps
Emily’s parents helped start the Breakthrough T1D Nashville Chapter (now the Tennessee Chapter) in 1994 with several other T1D families. “Connecting with other parents helped me to ‘breathe’ again,” Emily’s father Whit Clark said. “It was therapeutic to get together and share our thoughts.”
They held the Chapter’s first walk with about 20 people in attendance. Today, the Tennessee Chapter holds multiple walks each year, with several hundred people at each one!
Hope for the Future
Emily has now participated in the Breakthrough T1D One Walk 25 times in three different cities with at least five different team names. Her current team, Griffin Driftin’ Shiftin’ & Liftin’ Towards a Cure, filled with family, friends, colleagues, and more, gives her the most momentum to keep walking to fuel the progress she has seen.
“Breakthrough T1D has meant hope to my family and me for the past 30 years,” Emily said. “I have no doubt, especially given all of the breakthroughs that have already occurred during my three decades with type 1 diabetes, that in my lifetime we will be thanking Breakthrough T1D for discovering the cure.”
