Ray Allen is best known as one of the key components of basketball’s Boston Celtics, but he and his wife Shannon Allen are using their celebrity to help find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. Shannon is on the international board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and helped raise $1 million for the organization with a gala in Boston, according to an article in the Orlando Sentinel.
The Allens’ entre into a world with diabetes began in the Spring of 2008 when the Celtics were facing off against the Lakers in the NBA Finals in 2008. Their three year old son Walker, who is known as Walkie, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
The Allens first thought Walker had the flu. After getting off the phone in Los Angeles, he vomited and then threw up again a few days later. Despite giving Walker a ton of fluids over the first few days, he remained dehydrated and lethargic before being taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His blood sugar was 639. A normal blood sugar range is between 80 and 120. Walker now receives between 5 and 7 shots per day and checks his blood sugar 10 times or more per day. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s own immune cells mistakenly attack and destroy insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
Flo Allan, Ray’s 54-year-old mom, has also gotten in the awareness act. A few months back she ran in the Boston Marathon and raised $20,000 for diabetes research. Ray even left practice early to help Flo with the marathon.
Despite the seriousness of Type 1 diabetes, the Allens do not want diabetes to be a crutch for their son. “Everybody has challenges and, you know, we all are getting something different and this is just what you have and you have to deal with it,” Ray Allen told the Orlando Sentinel.
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