Community Corner

San Anselmo Family Creates Royal Ball for Kids with Diabetes

After her daughter developed Type 1 diabetes, Sara Kurtzig created a fancy fundraiser gala for the whole family.

When San Anselmo resident Sara Kurtzig’s daughter Jamie wanted to know why she couldn’t go with her parents to the fancy fundraiser gala, she was asking a question millions of other three-year-olds ask their parents every year.

But, Jamie’s question wasn’t just like every other three-year-olds’.

Jamie, who has Type 1 diabetes, wanted to know why she couldn’t go with her mom to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s fundraiser gala, since she was the one who had diabetes – not her parents.

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Kurtzig thought Jamie had a point.

“Why can’t we all go to a fun dress-up party?” she asked.

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So, the idea of the JDRF Royal Ball was born.

The Royal Ball is a fancy fundraiser gala, but for the whole family. This year’s ball, on March 11, will feature Kung-Fu demonstrations, tattoo artists, Chinese dancers, a falconer, dragon dancers, a Lego building contest and the annual scavenger hunt.

“It’s like mini-Disneyland for a couple hours,” said Kurtzig.

After Jamie first raised the question of a family gala four years ago, Kurtzig brought the idea to the JDRF. She had been going to the fundraiser events, but also knew that she wanted to do more to dedicate her time to helping find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. The first year the event was held at the Mill Valley Community Center and sold out.

“That showed us that a lot of people liked the family event concept,” said Kurtzig.

Now in its fourth year, the Royal Ball has raised $360,000, sells around 250 tickets for its yearly event and will be held at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF on March 11.

The added bonus of having a family-focused dress-up ball that all the kids, parents, and extended family come to is that no one has to find a babysitter.

With Type 1 diabetes, which children typically develop when they are very young, blood sugar has to be checked every couple hours and monitored. That means that a babysitter has to be responsible for blood sugar checks and insulin shots. So, a Type 1 diabetes fundraiser typically has parents checking their phones constantly and worrying about what’s going on at home.

But, if they can bring the kids with them, then the event is both about the kids and for them.

This year, Jamie also got to be extra involved in the Royal Ball.

The organizers created a Junior Committee for kids seven-years-old and up to brainstorm ideas, work with the adults to plan the event, and help set-up. The Junior Committee, some of whom have diabetes and some of whom don’t, was who said there absolutely had to be Kung-Fu demonstrations to go with the China theme this year.

“It’s a great way to introduce kids to the concept of doing something for someone else,” said Kurtzig.

And, it’s a way for the kids with Type 1 diabetes to be involved in raising money to find a cure for the illness.

Because Type 1 diabetes primarily develops in young children for no known reason, it’s often hard on parents who have to learn a whole new system of blood sugar monitoring and insulin shots. And, it’s hard on the kids.

Kurtzig said she and her husband met with a family counselor after Jamie developed Type 1 diabetes at 19-months-old. Type 1 diabetes is different from Type 2 diabetes, which typically presents in older adults often because of diet and lifestyle.

For Kurtzig it was important that Jamie, when she was old enough, understood what was happening, but didn’t get overwhelmed or feel bad about her illness. To that end, they always do her every two-hour blood sugar checks wherever she happens to be. There’s no need to go into the bathroom or into the principal’s office, said Kurtzig, “it’s not something to be embarrassed about.”

And if you asked Jamie, she’d tell you that her pancreas doesn’t work quite right, just like her dad’s eyes don’t work quite right so he needs glasses and her mom had to have surgery for her wrist that doesn’t work right. What do you have that doesn’t work as well as it should, Jamie asks people, said Kurtzig.

“These kids are amazing,” she said.

If you go: The JDRF Royal Ball will be held March 11 at the Mission Bay Conference Center from 3:30 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $150 for adults and $75 for kids and can be purchased on the Royal Ball’s website until March 5.


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