Giving Away Free Socks To Cure Type 1 Diabetes

Can we do something meaningful today? I mean, can we all come together today… it’s Friday… I know you have to work, but on top of that, would you care to be part of something bigger than you and I?

I’m in, for sure, today! I’m placing a bet on humanity today. Win or lose, I’m going for it.

I own a small business with a mission of curing T1D called Toe Drag Apparel that so happens to make the coolest hockey socks on the planet and I’m giving them away for free. Seriously… no joke, and when I say free, I mean no strings, no catch, just… like… free.

This is my website: https://www.toedragapparel.com/ When you get to the end of this article, you’ll find a code. Just click this site and enter the code and you’ll receive a confirmation email saying your SHiNNY SKiNS are on the way.

Oh, there’s definitely a reason why I’m doing this. I’m doing this for my son, Matthew. And I’m doing this for Clayton and Charlie, too. Matthew is eleven, he was diagnosed at age two. Clayton and Charlie are both captains on the peewee 12U hockey team I coach. I am remarkably proud of these three boys, the hands they have been dealt and what they are forced to deal with every. single. day. is more than I could ever manage. They have the responsibility of six adults and it is entirely unfair to these young boys. It’s the things you and I don’t even think of, things we take for granted, last week Matthew was staring at me in the kitchen, finally he said, “What does that taste like?” I was caught off guard, I looked down at my hands and I said, “This banana?” “Yeah, I forgot what it tastes like.” My eyes swelled. It’s not just about taking care of your kids when they are high or scary low, or sitting out of activity asking you “Why do I have to have diabetes…?” It’s not always about setting your alarm clock for every 2.5 hours over night so you can wake up and check on him… to make sure he’s alive. It’s not always about trying to prick his finger for a sugar check before he eats but not being able to find a spot still soft enough because each one of his little fingertips are callused from thousands of little finger pricks. Sometimes the pain comes in other ways, like when I’m reminded of things I feel terrible for not having realized. Why the hell am I eating a banana in front of him? What is wrong with me that I missed that? He would never ask me not to, he would not ask me to not have a cookie or cake or ice cream in front of him, but I’m his dad and what was I thinking!? As for on the ice with Clayton and Charlie, check out this center pic below… this is the Dexcom app on my phone. This pic brings together all three of the boy’s sugar levels and trend lines… and if you were sitting on our bench during a hockey game you might hear something like this… “Clayton grab a gatorade you’re going down… Charlie too high, you need a correction… Eddie, 20 seconds, take the box, as I text Clayton’s dad in the stands, “John have you see Matthew, he’s 62 going down, can you please find him and give him two glucose tablets?” “Tommy, your line is up, Caleb and Rose on ‘D.'”

Ya still haven’t told us why you’re giving away socks today.

If it was a pain in the ass to manage Matthew’s diabetes when he was three, six, eight years old, at least he was under my roof… at least I could walk into his room at night and know with certainty that he was ok for the moment… he was reliant on me, and that I can handle. I can control that, that ball will not get dropped and there’s no doubt about it- the crux of diabetes is that it’s constant. When you’re properly managing diabetes a kid can do anything… I mean Max Domi has T1D. Jay Cutler was QB for the Bears with T1D. You can do it, but it’s constant. By constant, I mean every hour and it doesn’t take a break. So, if Matthew tests his sugar and it reveals a damn good 105, well… sigh of relief* …feeling of accomplishment* …sudden realization that we’ve bought ourselves about an hour and a half. Things can easily go haywire in the next 1.5 hours and we have to be ready. Point is that eventually Matthew won’t be in my house, under my roof, down the hallway. One day he will head off to college and that is where bad things happen to Type 1s. I’ve said since he was diagnosed that my goal was to have him cured of T1D before he heads off to college.

Enter the Chicago Diabetes Project 🙂 When you are a parent of a T1D child you can’t help but learn a boatload about what’s going on in the world of diabetes research and from all I have learned, Dr. Jose Oberholzer is leading the way, I mean WORLD renowned and he is literally on the brink and at the point of acquiring FDA approval and getting big insurance on board! Check it out: https://www.chicagodiabetesproject.org/

When is the last time we cured a disease? Seriously, aren’t we over due? Would you like to help cure a disease today?

Many of the things I do throughout the year include raising money for the CDP and the biggest event of the year that I’m involved with is my annual Hockey/ Golf Gongshow, it’s a golf outing and every last cent goes to the CDP. This event is stellar… 150 of Chicago’s best hockey coaches, former pros, refs and big shots come together and spend the whole day hitting balls, banging pucks and shooting the breeze for T1D. It’s one hell of an event and if you’re in Chicagoland you should come out with us.

This is our 8th year in a row and I am determined to up the ante. This is my bet on humanity… it’s right here… if I lose thousands of dollars today because so many people got free socks then so be it, great. And I absolutely want you to grab your socks, there’s nothing I love more than seeing and hearing about people enjoying SHiNNY SKiNS! But along the way, I am hopeful that maybe some big shot dollars or some corporate charity budget will find it’s way to the CDP. We are a 501c3. Is it unreasonable to set this year’s goal at $100k? I hear about events all the time that raise $100k. Do you think together, if we leverage our network and community that we can raise $100k? Please take the socks – the code is LinkT1D And you don’t have to, but would you mind sharing this post and adding something like: “These free socks are cool and they’re really giving them away” Go to the website, pick your socks and punch in the code at checkout. They’ll be free. While you are at it, if you would like to check out our hockey/ golf event, it’s right here: https://www.golfinvite.net/hockey Register/ Donate/ Sponsor !!!

$100k would be a dream… but why not shoot for the stars, right?!

So, please…. enjoy your socks, thank you for taking a few minutes to think about the struggle of our Type 1 boys and girls. Have a terrific weekend! Happy Friday!

Daniel Edison

Dedison@toedragapparel.com