On Monday, August 16, 2010 Ray Allen, NBA All-Star and future Hall of Famer, will host a golf tournament at the TPC Highlands course in Cromwell, CT to benefit the Ray of Hope Foundation (ROHF). Ray established the foundation to assist charitable organizations through sports-related and community-based programs designed to assist children in need and help them reach their full potential. We'll be there to support the Allens, sending a Slam Diabetes foursome into the tourney with ears taped back and mouthpieces in (oops, sorry...that's rugby). All right, we'll be there and give it our best country club try. We look forward to supporting Ray and his wife Shannon in their efforts to improve the lives of kids around the country. It's a mission that parallels, on a more visible plane, what Natalie and I have set out to do since JoJo was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on April 15, 2005, at the age of four.

As a basketball fan of UConn (my home state team) and the NBA, I knew only about Ray Allen's prowess on the hardwood: a sniper-like jump shot and smooth takes to the hole that throughout his career have resulted in heaps of points and accolades. I particularly liked that he appears steady and tough on the court, a true team player without bravado. Until June 2008, I shared no connection with him. I was just a casual fan with a casual appreciation for one heckuva ballplayer. Then that June, I learned through the media that his son Walker was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of eighteen months. Diagnosed while Ray and the Celtics were battling the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Flu symptoms they thought, as we did with JoJo. All of a sudden, Ray Allen and I had something in common. We were in a fight against an insidious, unrelenting enemy after our kids.

That June I prayed for the Allens, but didn't do anything with this new info, didn't reach out. Heck, that was three years after JoJo's diagnosis, I was still operating on autopilot...or more aptly, like a deer eyeballin' oncoming headlights. Even as we were close to adopting our son Nicholas, who had type 1, and as we began thinking about a website for parents of kids with type 1, I was just goin' robotic, trying to get down the mechanics of diabetes management and wrestling with how this all went down on my watch, trying to solve too much. So, I just printed the article and filed it.

During these past two years since Natalie and I started PDK and SlamDiabetes, I've come across various media pieces about all the things the Allens have done to raise awareness about type 1 diabetes and to fundraise for a cure. The results of their efforts in such a short period of time have been tremendous, and it reflects a spirit and velocity of "doing" that's making a difference.

I haven't talked with Ray yet, and maybe I'll get to at the golf tournament, maybe not. But I know that Ray is just like me in one regard, and I bet just like all of you: We want to change a few things. We want to get rid of nighttime BG checks, so that Walker, JoJo, Nick, we and our wives can sleep like we used to sleep. We don't want to ever again rush to the hospital with our young one in our arms, scared that the glucagon won't work. We don't want one more needle or one more finger prick, let alone thousands more. We want our children to live life without the weight and fear of an enemy lurking within them. We want a cure. Urgently.

Until then, we want to help empower kids and families to live well, and to make a difference, one day after another, and to shine in spite of life's obstacles.

While the ROHF isn't specifically diabetes-related, it's about being an agent of change, about helping kids who need help. Check out the Ray of Hope Foundation and support Ray and Shannon Allen as they strive to make a difference!