Spare a Rose, Save a Child

I don’t normally get or give roses at Valentine’s Day so here’s another price shopping comparison: for the cost of one fancy Hallmark card which will likely find its way into the recycling bin, you could give one month’s worth of insulin to a child. And now you’ve also saved a tree.

As families who live in a developed nation, we complain about and debate the price of test strips, the accuracy of test strips, access to diabetes technology such as insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors, and the long trip to see the endocrinologist every three months.

We have every right to want better care for our children with diabetes. Our children deserve the best diabetes management that we can give them to help ensure that they live the longest, healthiest lives they can.

But for many children of the world, diabetes is a death sentence.

(Read “IDF: O is for Outrage!” to hear more about the disparity I see between our access to insulin and the lack of insulin throughout the world.)

“Lack of access to insulin is the most common cause of death for children with diabetes in many countries around the world. In fact, in some parts of the world, the estimated life expectancy of a child who has just developed diabetes could be less than a year.

This Valentine’s Day our community can continue to help change that.

Through the Spare a Rose, Save a Child campaign, we raise awareness and donations for Life for a Child, an International Diabetes Federation program which provides life-saving diabetes supplies, medication, and education that children in developing countries need to stay alive.

Spare a Rose, Save a Child is simple: buy one less rose this Valentine’s Day and donate the value of that flower to children with diabetes. Your loved one at home still gets flowers and you both show some love to children around the world who need it.

One rose, one month of life. A dozen roses, a year of life for a child with diabetes.

We’re hopeful that you will embrace this cause this year.”

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Donate

Donating couldn’t be more easy. Every dollar that you give helps children with diabetes in developing nations get insulin. Five dollars supplies insulin for one child for a month. And with $60, the cost of a dozen roses, you could supply insulin to a child for an entire year.