Brick Boy, Classmates March For Juvenile Diabetes Research

Third-grader Kieran Collins of Brick will be one of two students cutting a ceremonial ribbon to kick off the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s annual ONEWalk this Sunday, Oct. 11, in Avon.

Collins and fourth-grader Lindsay Berliner of Colts Neck are part of a team of more than 60 walkers from the Ranney School -- families, teachers, nurses and friends -- called “Team WHATEVER” that is walking in support of Ranney students, five in all, including Kieran and Lindsay, who have Type 1 diabetes, according to a news release from the school.

Team WHATEVER won JDRF’s recent Team Challenge to earn a spot at the official ribbon-cutting line. Team WHATEVER was founded in 2010 after Kieran was diagnosed with Type 1 at the age of 3. He named the Team “WHATEVER” because he called his insulin shots “whatevers.”

Lindsay was diagnosed in 2012, according to the release, and the two Ranney students teamed up to raise awareness among their classmates and together, do WHATEVER it takes to cure Type 1.

In two past walks, Team WHATEVER has raised $25,000 in support of research to treat, prevent and cure type 1 diabetes, officials said.

This year, Team WHATEVER has raised more than $11,000 for the upcoming ONEWalk, which is JDRF’s largest type 1 diabetes event in the world.

About 200,000 youths (under age 20) and more than 1 million adults live with type 1 diabetes. By the year 2050, JDRF estimates that nearly 600,000 youths may have the disease.

“Diabetes is hard when you first get it,“ Kieran said. “It’s getting a lot easier now that there are pumps and sensors. The main rule is that you can’t sneak food, but you can eat whatever you want. All you need to do is get insulin. I know it will hurt, but you will get used to it after a while. And someday, I know there will be a cure for diabetes and you can be a normal kid again.”

Funding for research has helped make significant improvements in the technology available to manage type 1 diabetes, the foundation says, and it is funding research into a variety of therapies including an artificial pancreas, beta cell encapsulation and smart insulin.

For more information on the walk and Team Whatever, visit http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/WHATEVER.