Jack's Dream

Jack is a 9-year-old from Concord, NC who loves playing sports. Despite a diagnosis at 2-years-old of Type 1 diabetes, he has been able to continue playing both baseball and basketball until recently.  Although Jack was very young when his parents learned of his condition they wanted to keep him active and help him do all the things he would eventually show an interest in.  As Jack got older, that interest became sports – both watching and playing. His parents knew that in order to keep him active it meant more planning ahead, doing health checks frequently, and managing some unexpected highs and lows. They figured out quickly that all of the extra preparation was well worth it because sports make Jack very happy – in fact, he is a natural athlete!

In December of 2016, Jack was faced with another obstacle. He was diagnosed with an extremely rare hypersensitivity to insulin, the very medicine that helps keep him alive.

Jack’s body sees the insulin as a foreign invader, rather than an anecdote, and for Jack that has resulted in dozens of doctors that are still struggling to find a cure. So the little boy that had adapted to battling his illness is now trying to manage this new complication, leaving him sore, weak, and exhausted. Jack has proven to be bigger than the disease and the symptoms – he is a fighter! Even though his condition is a very high risk, he continues to face each day with hope, encouragement, love, and a smile on his face.

Jack’s sports hero is Russell Wilson and his ultimate sports dream is to “play football with him on the Seattle Seahawks football field.”