Every now and again the DOC sends you something wonderful in real life, or in this case someone wonderful, who you would never have met otherwise. And I feel lucky that I've had a couple of those opportunities already this year. On Saturday last, I met one such person; Gina Gaudefroy. I don't know how Gina found me last year but she did and sent me an email. We exchanged some of our stories in a couple more emails. Gina shared that she is originally from Limerick but now lives in California. She is very involved in her diabetes community and in participating in many clinical trials. Her diabetes clinic is one of the few participating in the Bigfoot Biomedical Open APS trial and the ViaCyte transplant trials.
Last week, she messaged me saying she was going to be in Ireland, staying in Co. Offaly and could we meet? Hold up! My first question was what the hell are you doing in Offaly, very close to where I grew up? My Irish nosiness kicked in. It turns out that Gina's father comes from there.
I waited until she arrived to quiz her more about her ancestors, in true Irish tradition. And gave her some of my family history to return with so that she could determine if anyone in any of our families knew each other. And yes! Not only do we have diabetes in common but her father's people know my people!
Our paths may never have crossed or a connection made if it had not been for social media in particular the DOC. Our diabetes prompted us to connect personally but now we have lots more reasons to stay in touch. :-D
