It’s so hard to describe.
There are people who are very busy. There are people who have too many things on their plate. There are people who ‘would if they could’…..and then there is Lisa Treese.
Lisa Treese has had hardships in her life. She is also a mom to three rapidly growing boys who each have their own interests. She works. She is a community advocate. She has a son with type 1 diabetes. She has a husband, good friends, a home, pets, and an extremely active life. Lisa has a thousand excuses ‘not to be involved’, but she has one good reason to act.
Lisa also lives by; “I don’t do nothing.”
This weekend I had the privilege, no; the honor of traveling to Blair County Pennsylvania for what I still consider to be the absolute blue print of a DRI Diabetes Diplomat project.
One woman with a dream which has resulted in a community of also, ‘not doing nothing’. The annual Blair County Pennsylvania Walk was a wonderful day that will result (they have another event happening this month as well) with over $30,000 for diabetes research. She organizes, writes the letters, makes the calls, calls the shots, reaches out to families, reaches out to friends, and creates one heck-of-an-event.
I always have fun with Lisa as we watch the hundreds of people arriving and I state the quote she said to me years ago when she started, “No one will ever come”. Well that turns out to be wrong every year and was wrong this year as hundreds and hundreds of people came this weekend with dark clouds. And they kept coming.
They cheered in the rain. They walked in the rain. And as soon as the walk was over, the sun came out and many of the people stayed for the fun and the food. And they participated in a walk event that is truly unlike any other. Why? Because Lisa knows every single team and child with diabetes that attends the event.
She greets all of them. She asks how they are doing. She introduces that person with this person because they might help each other. She is a born communicator. She cares. She is one of the most incredible people I know. She does it all for one reason, to find a cure for her son.
People do things. People do great things. Many people do things to help the DRI and the goal to cure diabetes forever. They do their homework. They support the work of
Dr. Ricordi, and his team, because they believe in the concept of ‘in it to end it’ just as the researchers at the DRI believe it.
I have said it a thousand times, the best part of what I do is meeting the people around the world who want to help and live by the belief that ‘diabetes just will not do’ in their lives. They do more. They do not just talk; they act.
Lisa Treese does it with an energy, with a smile, with a compassion but also with one fiercely incredible drive for success.
Anytime I need a lift, I go to the Blair County DIabetes FB Walk Page. They are all wonderful people who do so much to make this day such a memorable day. Lisa would be the first person to say she does not do it alone; that she has an army of people who help her accomplish this goal.
She would be right.
But one person needs to stand up and say, “I can do this.” And does just that. In this case that person is Lisa Treese; an incredible driving force making a difference for her child, and yours.
I am a diabetes dad.
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’