Meeting of 50-Year Medalists

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tomjef Posted: Wed, May 13 2009 12:42 AM

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On Saturday, May 9, 2009, there was a meeting of 50-Year Medalists at Joslin. Dr. George King talked to us for about a half hour. One thing he told us was that he can identify the medalists in a crowd of people if he is told that there are one or more medalists in the crowd.

After his talk, Dr. King passed the microphone to each medalist, in alphabetic order, so each medalist could talk for three minutes. There were about 50 who had indicated a desire to speak, and the three-minute limit was determined because of the scheduled luncheon. No one used more than three minutes, and the noon-time deadline was only missed by eight minutes. I suspect this may also be a characteristic of medalists, all of whom learned many years ago about the importance of schedules.

Tom Beatson

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whalen replied on Wed, May 13 2009 9:35 AM

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Dear Tomjef-

What a wonderful achievement and congratulations to you!  It is very inspiring to know that this can be done.

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Dee replied on Wed, May 13 2009 6:46 PM

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What an awesome accomplishment.  Congratulations and continued good health to you.  Dee

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Spirit replied on Wed, May 13 2009 6:58 PM

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I raise a glass (of water) and toast your success!  I'll even raise a glass of champagne after iIfigure out the carb content!  Congratulations to the 50 year medalists!

Spirit

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AnnetteUK replied on Sat, Jul 4 2009 2:48 PM

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I was right there with you Tom and it was super meeting the "short list'

Hearing a 3 minute speech by a number of medalists describing their life experience with JD all sounded the same.. we had all traveled down the same road in the 1940's - 50's etc.

It was the first time I had not felt very alone  with JD ..

Thank you  Joslin!!!

~Annette~

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AnnetteUK replied on Sat, Jul 4 2009 2:50 PM

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What would we do without you Leah

~Annette~

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Joan replied on Wed, Mar 17 2010 2:17 PM

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Hi and congratulations to you!  I am also a 50 year Medalist with Joslin!  How fortunate that you could attend a meeting with Dr King!  I live on the West Coast...... kinda a far piece to get to Boston!

Still going strong!  Joan

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AnnetteUK replied on Wed, Mar 17 2010 2:40 PM

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Helloooo Joan and thank you!!! Congratulations to you too!!!

I am still thrilled to be in touch with a few people in our 50 plus group..

as I satated in my post last year... I had never met or known anyone

that had it as long as me... I thought I was the only one..and it was lonely!!

I Believe there were 41 of us at the 2009 medalist event ..I just kept

staring at all the others... it was some dream come true!

One of the medalists came from California with her husband.

Others came from different areas of the United States.

Through my JD webpage some diabetics got in touch with me...

and when I told them they deserve and can get a medal...

it was a great drug for them... two are now in the study too.

I have sent in my consent forms to donate my organs and skin

when I pass over.. my way of paying back for surving 52 years with JD!

Now several of us are waiting with baited breath for another Medalist Gathering in Boston!!

knock..knock.. knock Leah and Josh  How you both brighten medalists lives

and I thank you for...everything. 

AnnetteUK@hotmail.com

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tomjef replied on Wed, Mar 17 2010 4:32 PM

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Although it won't be specifically for 50-Year Medalists, there IS an upcoming event where some of us may meet. April 19th is Patriots Day in Massachusetts, and that's when they run the Boston Marathon. Joslin has a team, called Team Joslin, that will be running the marathon. The runners on Team Joslin are either Joslin patients, relatives of Joslin patients, or Joslin staff people. The patients and relatives of patients all have someone for whom they will be running. I think there is only one staff person who will be running. Her name is Emily Burkott, and she is a manager in the Development Office. Emily has chosen to run the Boston Marathon in MY honor! I'm sure that my being a 50-Year Medalist must have been a big factor in Emily's choice. Emily's web page is at

https://events.joslin.org/bostonmarathon/pfp/?ID=BE0006

I understand that the Joslin rooting section will be located at the Wellesley Hills Church (207 Washington Street, Wellesley), which is near the midpoint of the 26-mile route. Since I've never seen a Boston Marathon before, I figured I couldn't afford to miss this event. So I plan to be there to give my support to Emily and the other runners. I will be traveling (at my own expense) from my home in Phoenix, Arizona. I hope to see some of you medalists there!

Tom Beatson

tombeatson@cox.net