"The Flamingo Flock Campaign" and "PIF"

My 9 year old son, Noah, has type 1 diabetes. He was diagnosed when he was 6. After a year and a half of being on almost 6 shots of insulin a day, he started on the OmniPod insulin management system, which has completely changed his life. He has always been an active child but after being diagnosed, he didn't want to go out much because he was too embarrassed to go to a birthday party because he knew it meant having to have a shot before he ate anything, he couldn't go to a sleep over because he had to be on a constant schedule of meals and shots, and it was so difficult to have to lug around all the syringes and other supplies. He even had to drop out of some of his sports activities because they didn't work with his scheduled mealtimes or insulin shots. Now, being on the OmniPod, Noah is able to lead a very active lifestyle again, playing soccer, baseball, biking, swimming, just being a kid again. The biggest change, however, has been his urge to get out and talk about his diabetes and raise diabetes awareness!

A few months ago, Noah started a diabetes awareness campaign called "the flamingo flock campaign" where he takes blue plastic flamingos and "flocks" people with them. Each one has a name that starts with a "D" for diabetes and has a note attached telling people a little about Noah's story and his campaign. He asks that people "get out and do something" with his flamingos and send him a picture to his website. Noah knows that he can't do anything to prevent type 1 diabetes, which is what he has, but he can do something to help prevent type 2 by asking people to lead a more active lifestyle by "getting out and doing something". Noah has collected hundreds of pictures over the past few months and his campaign has now gone national! Noah tracks each one of his flamingos through his "official flamingo tracking map" on his website and he has a goal of tracking at least one flamingo to every state in the US by the end of this year. He is well on his way with flamingos from Massachusetts to California, Niagra Falls, and he's even had one visit Panama City! He has his sights even higher now and flocked rock star and diabetes advocate Bret Michaels just a few days ago! Noah wants to prove to everyone that people with diabetes, especially kids with diabetes, can do anything they put their mind to! Noah has generated quite a following not only on his website but also on Facebook and Twitter and he has also gained a lot of media attention along the way through radio and newspaper interviews and even television interviews! His hope is that by telling you his story, you might share it with your friends, readers, and visitors to your site to let them know about his campaign and let them know that "you may have diabetes, but diabetes does not have you", which is a motto he lives by every day! For more information on Noah's campaign, or to request a flamingo flocking, please visit his website, www.thediabetesdude.com http://www.thediabetesdude.com