2011 Best of the Diabetes Blogosphere

This year is coming to an end, and over the past 12 months, we’ve been sharing our favorite posts each month from all around the DOC. Today, we’re reviewing a few of our overall favorites from 2011, plus a couple of excellent stand-outs from December. Enjoy!

Inspired by Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” initiative, Kim Vlasnik launched the You Can Do This Project earlier this summer. Her goal: to inspire PWDs everywhere that they can overcome the struggles of diabetes, assure them that they are not alone, i.e. that they can do this! Nearly 100 videos have already been submitted. (Watch our own submissions here.)

The popular bare-all site PostSecret hit a nerve in our community with a diabetes-related postcard. Kerri Sparling followed up by encouraging others to share their secrets about diabetes. Several hundred comments have now been collected!

Another thing that hit a nerve: judging a PWD by their A1c! That approach by an endocrinologist got Scott Strange fired up, and created quite a stir among reader comments, too.

One of our favorite DOC buddies, Scott Johnson, attended the annual CWD Friends for Life event in Florida this summer, where new sessions for adults with type 1 proved this gathering is not just for kids! Scott was moved, claiming that each year, this event changes his life for the better.

Another DOC’er we adore, Lee Ann Thill, shared Five Things That Changed My Life — a testimonial to what really matters, and how falling in love finally helped her get her shit together, metaphorically speaking.

We’ve been delighted to participate in National D-Blog Day, developed by Gina Capone, for the past seven years running. This year, the focus was creating a scrapbook page that illustrates your diabetes connections, and we loved checking out all the folks who contributed! (See ours here.)

When JDRF published a full-page newspaper ad in the New York Times and Washington Post claiming that 1 in 20 people will die from hypoglycemia, it seemed that everyone — including us — was taken aback. We appreciated all the DOC feedback, especially Victoria Cumbow’s thoughtful post stating that even if it’s 1 in 1,000 people, even one is too many.

We were touched by the compassion and quick-thinking of Nicole Purcell, who helped a fellow PWD in a crisis.

Speaking of advocacy, we can always count on Kelly Kunik to rally the DOC in the name of busting myths and misconceptions. First she tackled Ricki Lake misspeaking, then she went knocking on the door of Reader’s Digest. This inspired others, including Kim Vlasnik, to give Reader’s Digest a dose of D-reality. Way to take on the harbingers of misinformation, Ladies!

Fellow journalist-slash-blogger Mike Hoskins also chimed in with his thoughts about how the media perpetuates myths when the Wendell Fowler debacle hit the Internet. Wendell’s columns are no longer online, but you can read the synopsis on Mike’s blog.

Sara Knicks writes how sharing various aspects of her life, from her missionary work to her body piercings, makes her a better diabetes advocate.

George Simmons celebrates his fifth “breathaversary” — the anniversary of quitting smoking! George also wrote about how the DOC helped him do that here at the ‘Mine in November.

Leighann Calentine chats with another D-Mom, Denise Jonas, mother of teen sensation Nick Jonas, about a new advocacy campaign coop between Eli Lilly and Disney.

Speaking of D-Moms, we thought the Type 1 D-Mom Song from Denise, a parody of Katy Perry’s California Girls, was hilarious! Give it a listen if you haven’t already.

Moira McCarthy Stanford discusses the stark differences in how PWDs see diabetes versus the people who care for them. A must-read for all Type 3′s.

The holidays are supposed to be a time of good cheer, but that can be hard with the diabetes monkey on our backs. Stacey Divone shares how she’s dealing with “diabetes ennui” and how she refuses to let it turn her into a Grinch.

Karen Graffeo is also dealing with the weight of diabetes as she clocks in at 32 years old this month, and Scott Strumello reflects on his diabetes burnout as he reaches 35 years of living with diabetes. Does diabetes get easier or harder the longer you have it?

And there’s nothing more special and heartwarming than seeing a group of D-ladies welcoming little bundles of joy… Congrats to Caroline, Karen and Lisa, Heidi and Bethany are expecting their little ones in 2012!

Thanks to all of you. We can’t wait to see what the DOC cooks up in 2012!