My last walk as Miss Amer.. I mean the Dream Fund Winner

The 2005 Dream Fund Winner started his unbelievable bicycle trek yesterday. This, along with the official press release and his picture replacing mine on the Dream Fund website, has me feeling like my reign is coming to an end. I find myself reminiscing, sort of like the outgoing Miss America musing about the past year in a voice over as she strolls the stage one last time. (Yes, I have a tiara. But that's a story for a different day.)

My first task as winner was to attend and speak at the Bayer DiabetesCare Division annual Sales meeting. I had practiced my speech over and over and came prepared with notecards and an outline. I sat with butterflies in my stomach as I was introduced by the V.P. of Marketing. And then, much to my surprise, I took the stage to a standing ovation.

Seriously, once in your life, you should have a room full of people stand up and applaud you. I get choked up just thinking about it.

For Bayer last year, I also attended the ADA Scientific Sessions in San Diego and the AADE Annual Meeting in D.C.. At those meetings, I stood at the Bayer booth in the exhibit hall, handing out brochures about the Dream Fund and "BLADS" for my book (book layout and design samples). The trick was to try to make eye contact with passers by, and get them to stop at the booth and chat. The mission of conference goers - especially the savvy ones - is the complete opposite: get through to the booths you are targeting, grabbing free stuff along the way, without having to stop to talk to people at every booth.

I wasn't 'selling' anything except an opportunity (pssst, buddy, want a hundred grand?) so my task was a little easier. At ADA (an international, research-heavy crowd) I had a little harder time engaging folks. But the (mostly) women at AADE - they were fantastic and enthusiastic and willing to listen to my shpiel in exchange for the free bag or a handful of Aleve samples (a popular giveaway on the morning after pharma-sponsored galas).

I have to say, it was great fun. Hard work, and hard on the feet, but great fun. I thoroughly enjoyed working alongside the Bayer sales staff and I loved meeting and chatting with people from around the country who care so much about diabetes. My camp/Joslin history also meant that I saw a ton of 'old friends' at each event.

In between all of this hob-knobbing and jet-setting (ha!) I also wrote a book. And to do that, I conducted over 150 interviews with parents who have diabetes. What an utterly terrific experience that has been. I hope the book reflects the support and friendship that I've been blessed with as I struggle to maintain my health while raising my kids. It was challenging work (the prior year's winner had to learn to SCUBA dive... me, I had to face.. AN EDITOR!) but it came together nicely, I think.

Things are actually heating up for me as I wind down my Dream year. I recently learned that I will sign books at the Bayer booth at diabetes events in Chicago, DC, LA, Boston, Tarrytown NY, NYC, San Diego and Virgina Beach between now and December (I'll let you know as each one comes up). So, although my reign is over, I will continue to work diligently on my 'platform issue'.

When I sat down to write my Dream Fund entry, I honestly thought I didn't have much of a chance. My project - writing a book - seemed tame compared to the prior winner and the fund inspiration (who entered an around the world solo sailing race). But just entering the contest - just sitting down and thinking about what I would do around diabetes with those kinds of resource - was an inspiration. As I awaited the outcome of the contest (convinced I hadn't won) I had already started thinking about how I could make my book a reality anyway. Luckily, my project met the Fund criteria and I (as well as the Bayer folks) saw great potential to reach and hopefully inspire many many folks with diabetes.

[cue orchestra as I turn and wave to the audience and the camera zooms in on my face, mascara unsmudged despite teary eyes.]