Click the picture, watch the video first, and come back…….it is only about a minute long. Seconds to go in a game, know this–if this Miami team loses, the Championship is over, and they are out.. Seconds tick, pressure, cheers, screaming………little chance……..team to be eliminated…….and something happened.
Sports fans, SCREAMING in-game 6 last year when Miami played the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Championship. Seconds to go on the clock and you saw the 3-pointer by Ray Allen of the Miami Heat sending the game to over time.
Miami would win this game, the next game as well, and be crowned the Champions of the NBA.
Ray Allen, an incredible shooter. One who understands the important shot when it’s needed like few others. There is another shot Ray knows as well. It’s a shot of insulin. To give himself, a shot would probably not be too much of a problem; he’d get used to it. He’s a strong man.
But giving a shot to his 7-year-old son Walker, who has T1 diabetes, that’s a different ball game altogether, isn’t it? When the arena lights get turned off, the locker gets closed, the press interviews end, the cheering becomes silent; Ray returns home to his wife Shannon, and Walker (and his brothers and sister) and diabetes; basketball—-well basketball becomes just a game again.
Ray and Shannon are just like any other d-parent. They want to make a difference. They want a cure. They don’t like diabetes. They want to know what’s going on in the world of research. So on this day, his day off when he should be resting, Ray, Shannon and Walker took a tour of the DRI.
They wanted to see science, they wanted to speak to the researchers, they wanted their questions answered, they wanted to know more. Pictured here with Dr. Ricordi, The Allens became like so many other families that have toured the DRI. They have come through this special place and found out for themselves, as we who already know, the best hope for a cure is not just a tag line at the DRI…..it is the torch that burns fiercely as a reminder for all of us. This job MUST get done.
There is a gathering tonight and there is an event on Monday. The Ray Allen Golf Classic and Ray of Hope Luncheon to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute and the JDRF. The Allens are parents with a child battling diabetes. I have said it a thousand times…….diabetes doesn’t care if you drive a train for living, run a printing machine, sell homes, or tie game six in a championship series with a three-pointer as seconds tick away on a clock; diabetes will strike your home just as hard and just as tough……it just does not care.
Ray Allen is also making a difference. He is lending his name, getting involved, and calling friends to help raise money for two organizations trying to make a difference, and also to end this disease forever. Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be raised. There are incredible volunteers involved in this event who are just as crucial as Ray and Shannon Allen; the Holtz Family for one, and many others.
It will take a team to beat this disease together. It will take the Allens-superstars in the Basketball arena, It will take Scientist-like Dr. Ricordi and his team superstars in the research world, it will take The Holtz’s–a family that will do all it takes; it will take all of us in events, and giving, none-too-small; all crucial funds.
At the end of the day, just don’t do nothing. Do with what you have; now. All of it together will get us to the championship we all have waited for too long……..a cure. And that is a shot that will be heard around the world.
I am a diabetes dad.
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