Registration for Thrive-abetes is open!

Finally!! Registration for Thrive-abetes is open. 

However, before you buy your tickets for this conference, take a moment to read through "Who should attend Thrive-abetes?"

Who Should Attend Thrive-abetes?

The Thrive-abetes; Thrive with Type 1 Diabetes Conference is for:

- Adults living with Type 1 diabetes or Type 1.5 Diabetes, also known as LADA (Latent autoimmune diabetes of adults). 

- Partners, Spouses and Significant Others of Adults with type 1 and 1.5 are welcome to attend Thrive-abetes also. They should buy their ticket for the programme they wish to attend. 

- Parents or Guardians of a child or young person with type 1 diabetes.
It is with a heavy heart that we recommend that you to leave your child with diabetes at home, if you can. Please see this post for why we decided this.

Ticket Price.

Tickets for Thrive-abetes cost €35 each, or €60 for two tickets (this includes the administration fee from Eventbrite.ie) and can be purchased here. 

Another GREAT speaker for Thrive-abetes: Dr. Clare McVicker from JDRF

It is with great pleasure that we announce confirmation of the fifth speaker at the Thrive-abetes conference.

Dr. Clare McVicker is the Director of Research Advocacy, at the type 1 diabetes research charity, JDRF in the United Kingdom. JDRF is the world’s leading charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research and its vision is a world without type 1 diabetes.

Dr. McVicker works to increase and further strengthen type 1 diabetes research by raising awareness of the condition and the profile of JDRF in the wider UK research community.

The JDRF UK is partnered with Diabetes Ireland Research Alliance (DIRA), which is a subsidiary branch of Diabetes Ireland.

Clare said: “I am really pleased to be part of this fantastic event and to represent our successful DIRA/JDRF partnership.  We are at an exciting time for research into type 1 diabetes, with many recent advances and breakthroughs, and therefore, I look forward to highlighting many of these at the conference'.

She added: “The cure for type 1 diabetes will be found. It’s just a question of time, money, and great research. Finding this cure could act as a skeleton key – unlocking ways to prevent and cure a range of other autoimmune conditions.”

Welcome Dr. Clare! You can find out more about Dr. McVicker here.

Are you a Winner in our Thrive-abetes Raffle?

We held our Thrive-abetes Fundraiser raffle on Saturday evening, May 30th, in The Grove Bar & Restaurant, Roslevan, Ennis, Co. Clare.

1st Prize of the signed 2014 Six Nations Ireland Rugby shirt goes to; 

Mairead Lynch, Clogher Head, Co. Louth 

Ticket No. 0075. We wish Mairead the very best of luck in her exams.

2nd Prize of Two nights B&B in Friar's Lodge Guest House, Kinsale, Co. Cork goes to;

Natasha Holohan 

Ticket No. 0341

Contact us Natasha so we can send you your prize!

3rd Prize of Two nights B&B in Friar's Lodge Guest House, Kinsale, Co. Cork goes to;

Daniel Hartnett, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick.

Ticket No. 0358.

4th Prize of the €60 Ticketmaster Voucher goes to;

Kate O'Donnell, Hospital, Co. Limerick. 

Ticket No. 0142

Congratulations to all our winners! And thanks to everyone who supported Thrive-abetes by buying a raffle ticket. 

Thanks also to our prize sponsors; DiabetesTone.com, Maureen Tierney of Friar's Lodge Guest House, and to Elissa Cassidy in Ticketmaster.ie

Why am I so excited about Joe Solo coming to Thrive-abetes?

I know that I am at risk of putting you all to sleep if I mention Friends for Life (FFL) UK again but I can’t stop talking about it.

One of the best things that happened was bumping into my insulin pump trainer in the corridor at FFL. After the usual how are you doing, what the hell are you doing in the UK? She hits me with "Are you going to run a conference like this in Ireland (she really knows how I work:-) and have you met Joe?"

I, of course, did not behave anything like a grown up would, but she insisted on introducing me and my friend, Christine to him. Within 60 seconds she had asked him if he would speak at our conference. It really pays to have good people in your corner!!

Who the hell is this Joe fella?

Myself and Christine had the pleasure of having him join us for lunch the next day. That was another fantastic thing about the FFL conference, everybody had lunch together, nobody sat alone, the healthcare professionals and families mixed socially. 

Anyway, we talked about how in my house I may be the one with diabetes but we all live with it. We talked about how children with diabetes do so much better with it emotionally when the family are a team. He even gave me a couple of pointers on how to perform my basal rate tests!

Joe is Joe Solowiejczyk, it’s a name I can never repeat or remember how to spell. Thankfully, he has made it easier for the world to talk about him by shortening it to Joe Solo. Joe is a registered nurse, diabetes educator and family therapist. He’s worked with families with diabetes for decades and he has lived with type 1 diabetes for 50+ years himself.

Joe works extensively with both patients and professionals on the Family-Approach to Diabetes Management. He works with paediatric patients and their families to help them cope with their child's diagnosis and daily challenge of living with diabetes. He designs educational and counselling programs for both children and adults with diabetes.

His ebook "A Type 1 Guide to the Universe"  introduces a new way to learn to thrive with diabetes. It is the first book to integrate the psychological and emotional aspects of dealing with diabetes into the core of its approach.

Joe is scheduled to open our conference with a keynote presentation. Plus present "Staying Motivated to take care of you diabetes, every day" to our Type 1 Adults group and chair a panel of Parents of children with diabetes.



I have included a couple of video links of Joe's talks on this link if you would like to know more about him.

Last chance to win!

As you may already know we organised a fund raiser raffle with a Signed 2014 Six Nations Irish rugby shirt up for grabs and other FANTASTIC prizes. 

There is just one more week to snap up the remaining few raffle tickets. Buy your raffle tickets  online on this page. Raffle tickets cost €5 per ticket. 

The raffle draw takes place on Saturday 30th May.

1st Prize: A SIGNED 2014 Six Nations Ireland rugby shirt! 

2nd Prize: Two nights B&B for two people in Friar's Lodge Guest House, Kinsale, Co. Cork. 

3rd Prize: Another Two nights B&B for two people in Friar's Lodge Guest House, Kinsale, Co. Cork. 

4th Prize: €60 voucher for Ticketmaster. 

Good luck!

Latest Update from Thrive-abetes

As you may already know we organised a fund raiser raffle with a Signed 2014 Six Nations Irish rugby shirt up for grabs and other FANTASTIC prizes. We are doing reasonably well with our ticket sales, with only 14 books of 10 tickets left to send out to any volunteer sellers out there.

We offered people who sell two books of 10 tickets a free Thrive-abetes conference ticket, worth €35, as a reward.

If anyone is interested in volunteering to sell 20 tickets, send me an email at thriveabetes@gmail.com with your address and I will get them to you as soon as possible.

The raffle draw takes place on Saturday 30th May and ticket stubs need to be returned by May 25th.

You can also buy raffle tickets online on this page. Raffle tickets cost €5 per ticket. 

In other news: 

We have confirmed a speaker from JDRF UK.
We have added another exhibitor.
Our next phase of planning will be to open registration for the conference, which we are hoping to do in early June.

Onwards and Upwards!

Our 4th Confirmed Speaker; Dr Kevin Moore

I am thrilled to announce that we have confirmed our fourth speaker. Dr Kevin Moore, Clinical Director of Naas Hospital and consultant endocrinologist in Tallaght Hospital, will be joining us at Thrive-abetes.

Kevin has been making occasional guest appearances at the Type 1 Diabetes Support group meetings in Dublin for a number of years. I feel that it says a lot when a group keeps asking you to return.

He works tirelessly to improve the life of patients with diabetes and those with chronic endocrine disorders. Dr. Moore is a strong advocate for healthy lifestyle with chronic conditions. He has undertaken a number of activities with patients, including climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, participating in triathlons and 5-10Km runs. He regularly gives voluntary patient education talks throughout Ireland, including at the Type 1 diabetes support group for adults in Dublin.

Kevin graduated with an honours medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1996. In 2005 he completed the Irish Specialist Registrar Training Scheme (SpR) in Diabetes, Endocrinology and General Internal Medicine. He then travelled to America where he undertook a Fellowship in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. which is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest hospitals.

He returned to Ireland 2007 and took up a post in Naas General Hospital and Tallaght Hospital as a Consultant Endocrinologist where he continues to work today.

Into 2011, he became chairman of the Diabetes section of the Irish Endocrine Society, having been secretary of the same committee since 2008. He previously served as the chair of the Professional Services Committee of The Diabetes Federation of Ireland.

“I am really excited to be involved in Thrive-abetes.  Education is key to success in type 1 diabetes and Thrive-diabetes will provide patients with what they need in order to take control of their condition. I hope that this will be the first of many Thrive-abetes conferences.”

Welcome aboard, Dr. Moore!