On Saturday, December 5th, I attended my very first T1International #insulin4all meeting for the Massachusetts state chapter (virtually, of course).

What motivated me to join this meeting?

There’s a couple of factors…for starters, I’ve been a digital advocate for T1International for just over six months now. In that time, I’ve become familiar with their mission to not just promote diabetes awareness, but to empower individuals to share their stories and experiences with diabetes and fight for change to make insulin affordable for all.

I’ve spent the last few months reposting and sharing infographics and blog posts from T1International, but lately, I’ve felt the urge to do more because clearly, we’ve still got a long way to go when it comes to lowering the list price of insulin.

The problem for me, though, was that I wasn’t sure where to start, and since I work full-time, I was definitely foggy on how much of my spare time I could dedicate to a cause.

I had a vague awareness that #insulin4all chapters existed across the country, but I didn’t know whether the one in my state was active or if joining it would be the right fit for me.

So I felt it was kismet when I saw an Instagram post from a friend I met through the College Diabetes Network (hi, Claire!) announcing that she was going to take over leadership of the Massachusetts #insulin4all chapter. Through her post and a couple of messages back and forth, I learned that the chapter had been stagnant for awhile and it was Claire’s goal to assemble a group to revitalize it and start making real progress in our state.

Our first meeting went incredibly well: A handful of people showed up and we got to know each other as well as the rough roadmap that would direct our next several meetings over the coming months. What really struck me is that everyone who attended obviously had diabetes in common, but on top of that, we all shared a frustration with the current cost of insulin, even though we haven’t directly felt the impact of it like other members of our community have. It seemed that each person felt motivated to work together to do what we can in our state, and to me, that was a sign that I was going to be glad that I joined the group.

What’s next for the Massachusetts #insulin4all chapter? I’ll be sure to share it as we develop goals and set out to achieve them!