For some, the simple prick of a needle, let alone a full-on injection to the vein is an excruciating endeavor. For a kid with Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, it’s an event that happens once, if not multiple times daily, with the consequence of not doing so being extreme illness and possibly death.
By just looking at a diabetic child or adult, one wouldn’t see the disease or the struggle it causes. But for those who live it, the fallout is almost always apparent.
“He has to get at least four shots a day, he has to get his blood sugar checked seven to eight times a day … and we have to consider everything he puts in his mouth,” said Poulsbo resident Carly Roney, whose son Connor Nguyen, 8, was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 3.
“If he were to get into any candy, he could get really sick. Even if he gets a cold he can get really, really sick,” she said. “I figure my son has had over 8,000 shots.”
But, on the upside, a cure is in sight, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation which has poured more than 35 years and $1 billion into the quest for a remedy.
With that thought in mind along with Connor and the hundreds of thousands of other people affected by the disease, Roney wanted to help.
She found the best way to do so would be to donate money to the JDRF. Something people typically do through fund raising car washes or McTakeovers, in which where fund raisers don their fast food aprons to earn a percentage of the proceeds.
“I was thinking, I’ve never worked fast food or ran a car wash … what can I do, what do I know?” Roney said.
And the answer was live music.
A friend, as well as a part-time merchandise girl/roadie/fan for a few local bands, Roney decided to fundraise through a benefit concert.
Starting at 9 p.m. April 13 at Gandhi’s Lounge (in Mariner Square, at 9621 Mickelberry Rd. Suite 101) Bremerton bands The Extinct, Legends on Heroin, Project 9 and Rewind will be rocking for the cause.
The show is 21 and older, with a $5 cover charge.
“Gandhi’s has offered to donate all of the money at the door for JDRF,” Roney said. “The five bucks that gets you in will be donated right to the cause.”
