Why is Team Shelby Now 'Shelby & Co.'?

Ten years ago, we launched Team Shelby after our daughter Shelby was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. The purpose of Team Shelby was to raise awareness about the causes, treatments and ultimate cure for Type 1, particularly by supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the world's leading non-governmental funder of this type of research.

But in December 2009, another member of our family - Scott - was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.  At age 42!  Clearly, Type 1 Diabetes is not a juvenile condition!  Fortunately, Scott's diagnosis came as part of an international family history study program hoping to watch the development of Type 1.  It also meant that he was eligible for a clinical trial of GAD protein injections that attempt to slow the loss of insulin-producing beta cells during early onset Type 1.

Two people in the family caused a problem with it came to 'Team Shelby,' though.  It wasn't just about Shelby, not that it ever really was.  But how to you incorporate another family member without losing the initial purpose of the effort - to support Shelby's diagnosis and urge people to rally around a cure?

We chose 'Shelby & Co.', and a new logo depicting a daughter and father to carry on with our JDRF support efforts.  Unfortunately, Facebook doesn't let you rename a page if you have more than 100 fans, which thankfully we do.  So the name TeamShelby will live on at least on Facebook.