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<\/a>\u201cProbably one of the best ways to describe it is being given the keys to a helicopter without the instructions,\u201d she says. \u201cIt needs constant management. It was difficult because not only was I a new student, but I had this condition which made me different as well… There was a point where I had been bullied for my condition, to the point where I was in tears, so it was not only just controlling the condition but trying to make friends and running into people like that at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
After high school, Iwan started volunteering at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as a graphic designer while she was starting Camosun\u2019s Interactive Media Developer Technologist program. JDRF recently requested that Iwan be involved in a diabetes awareness campaign that sees local organizations lighting their buildings in blue on November 14, for World Diabetes Day, and, next year, to commemorate the 100-year anniversary since the discovery of insulin.<\/p>\n
Iwan organized to have the Royal BC Museum, the fountains at the Parliament Buildings, and Victoria City Hall lit up blue. However, she also decided that she could do more than simply light up a few buildings, and she launched a $10,000 crowdfunding campaign for JDRF to fund research initiatives throughout Canada. The initiative soon exceeded its goal\u2014as of early December, it was at $10,600.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really thrilled to share that in three weeks we hit that goal, so it\u2019s been really exciting and positive,\u201d says Iwan, who finished her program at Camosun last month, after she spoke with Nexus<\/em> for this story. \u201cThe ultimate goal is that money is going to go towards making a difference and finding a cure for diabetes [through stem cell therapy], and improving the lives of diabetics today.\u201d<\/p>\n Iwan says that one of the reasons she wanted to give back to the diabetes community is to help other people with the condition lead fuller lives with less loneliness and isolation.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother goal I had was to help people who have type 1 diabetes feel that inclusiveness, that [they\u2019re] not the only person who has this condition,\u201d she says. \u201cLike, here is this person who is openly talking about their experience, and maybe somebody would see that and be inspired by it, or feel a sense of community, and so I\u2019m quite happy with how this has gone so far.\u201d<\/p>\n Iwan says that her time at Camosun has benefitted the project, and overall it\u2019s been a really positive, supportive experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt that my experience at Camosun did help with my success in the fundraiser for a variety of reasons, both in graphic design but also from a user-experience perspective,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel Camosun helped me feel comfortable with reaching out into the community; it\u2019s always been nothing but teachers and peers being understanding, and people at this point have been nothing but supportive at Camosun.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Iwan used to try to hide her condition from others for fear of being judged, she came to the realization that having diabetes doesn\u2019t need to be a badge of shame that impedes her life.<\/p>\n \u201cI really don\u2019t think it\u2019s anything to be embarrassed about, because I do see all of the incredible things that people with type 1 diabetes have achieved,\u201d she says. \u201cJust because somebody is living with a chronic condition like this doesn\u2019t completely inhibit them from something they want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Motria Iwan has raised over $10,000 toward diabetes research, and is now using the skills she gained in her program at Camosun to take the initiative to the next level. At 14, Iwan was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a life-threatening illness that prevents the body from producing insulin, the hormone responsible for converting blood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,261],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","category-january-10-2022"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21914"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21947,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21914\/revisions\/21947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}