About Us
Waltzing the Dragon is Canada’s key online resource for the Type 1 Diabetes community, addressing both the physical and emotional aspects of living with diabetes. We believe the key to living well with diabetes is empowering individuals with type 1 diabetes and their families to make choices that fit best for you, at different stages of your experience with diabetes (beginner through advanced), by presenting a range of available options.
What is the goal of WaltzingTheDragon.ca?
Our Mission: To educate, equip and encourage families dealing with Type 1 Diabetes by providing information that is current, comprehensive, evidence-based, and practical… until there’s a cure.
Who is WaltzingTheDragon.ca?
We’re Kim and Alison, two moms brought together by Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and a shared desire to make life a little easier for families walking this path.
Kim is a neonatal nurse and mom of three. Her middle daughter was diagnosed with T1D at age two, and every day is a balancing act, making sure her daughter can dive into life (rugby, swimming, playdates, and yes, birthday cake!) while staying on top of diabetes management.
Alison is a teacher and mom to one son, diagnosed with T1D at just eight months old. She often says she lives life in five-minute increments, each Dexcom update guiding the next decision so her family can live fully and freely.
We met through a family connection and immediately clicked. What started as a conversation turned into a friendship and a shared passion for helping others feel less alone.
When Michelle MacPhee decided to retire from Waltzing the Dragon, we knew we wanted to carry on her incredible legacy. We are honoured to be the main content contributors continuing to provide a space for families to find support, understanding, and those small tips that make a big difference.
We’re also the co-founders of Glucose Scholars, a project dedicated to helping children and families with Type 1 Diabetes navigate the challenges of school. Want to learn more? Reach out at info@glucosescholars.com.
We’d love to stay connected with you. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter for stories, articles, and resources from the Waltzing the Dragon community.
Waltzing the Dragon's History
WaltzingTheDragon.ca was co-founded in 2011 by two parents of children with type 1 diabetes from Alberta, Canada: Michelle MacPhee (a mom of two then-preschoolers: a son who has had type 1 diabetes since 2008, and a daughter) and Danielle Krause (a former Registered Nurse, and a mother of three teens at the time, including a son who has had type 1 diabetes since 2001).
In 2016, Danielle left Waltzing the Dragon in order to pursue a career in health coaching, but her incredible contributions to Waltzing the Dragon live on in its rich content. Michelle continued on the path they had created together five years earlier, bringing (to the D-community in Canada and beyond) the best of what she learns from others living with diabetes.
Why was WaltzingTheDragon.ca created?
in the beginning of their journey as parents of children with Type 1 Diabetes, Michelle and Danielle each researched how to best manage the diabetes dragon that had entered their families’ lives, but became overwhelmed with the amount of information out there. They encountered dozens of books and articles and websites and blogs and newsletters and organizations, each sharing a different piece of the puzzle. They wondered: is that information outdated? What information is relevant for Type 1 (vs. Type 2) Diabetes? What information can we trust? Wouldn’t it be great if there was ONE place to go for a condensed but comprehensive view of Type 1 Diabetes, with information to help parents live through the day-to-day challenges?
They wanted to create an ever-evolving resource to share the information they had learned through their experiences, from other parents, members of the T1D community, and from medical, health care and mental health professionals – the information that had made a difference in their lives. Waltzing the Dragon was born as a result.
Why the name “Waltzing The Dragon”?
Anyone whose life has been affected by diabetes will recognize the dragon: diabetes can be fearsome and overwhelmingly large; it can scorch us when it breathes its characteristic fire; we would love to ride in on a sturdy steed and slay the dragon so that our children, our families, don’t have to live with this troublesome beast. And yet what we sometimes fail to recognize is that, even though we cannot slay the dragon (there is not yet a cure for type 1 diabetes), it is tameable. We cannot tame it by burying our head in the sand and pretending it does not exist. We cannot tame it by screaming and yelling and stomping our feet and rebelling against it. Instead we need to learn to interact positively with it, to take control calmly and confidently… to dance with it.
A “waltz” is defined as a smooth dance, with continuous turns and a characteristic rise and fall. (Sound familiar?) Sometimes it feels like the diabetes dance is never-ending: we have to keep on moving, keep checking blood glucose (through the day and through the night), keep counting carbs, keep learning more and analyzing numbers and watching and keeping our kids safe. WaltzingTheDragon.ca strives to make the dance a little easier by sharing with you the science of effective diabetes care, as well as the art that makes one truly successful.
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