#1866 Beyond the Cure

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1866 – Beyond the Cure
Date: June 2, 2026
Host: Scott Benner (A)
Guest: Rebecca Hodges (B), filmmaker

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Brief Overview

In this episode, host Scott Benner interviews filmmaker Rebecca Hodges about her journey into impactful storytelling and her upcoming documentary "Beyond the Diagnosis", which explores the real, often-unseen struggles and resilience of people living with type 1 diabetes. The conversation delves deeply into the emotional realities of the diabetes community, the process of documentary filmmaking, the power and pitfalls of hope for a cure, and both Scott and Rebecca’s personal motivations for their work.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Rebecca’s Origin Story as a Filmmaker

• Rebecca’s creative pivot from pre-med to film after a professor recognized her talent ([03:12]):
  • “I went into a film class, and I stopped going to all of my other classes so that I could just go to my film class and spend all of my time working on my project there.” – Rebecca (B), [03:16]
  • Supportive family despite professional backgrounds; recognized her creativity ([04:01])
• Building her career: From intern to producer, director, and editor, then founding Hodges Film in 2016 to focus on stories that influence positive change ([04:31]-[05:23]).

2. Connection to the Type 1 Diabetes Community

• Rebecca entered the diabetes world through serendipity, not personal experience. She met Elizabeth Forrest of Touched by Type 1 and Dancing for Diabetes through an intern’s project ([08:17]).
• Emotional turning point: Interviewing a young girl in Elizabeth’s dance program for kids with T1D and witnessing her heartbreak about “the cure always being just around the corner” ([09:27]):
  • “She just completely broke down...when she started crying, I just emotionally broke inside. And I was like, I want to help these people.” – Rebecca (B), [10:00]
• Over the years, Rebecca’s understanding deepened not just in clinical knowledge but in the chronic emotional toll of diabetes – especially caretaker fatigue and post-event emotional lows ([11:20]).

3. Focus of the Documentary "Beyond the Diagnosis"

• The film centers on Elizabeth Forrest and others in the T1D community, showing both the public and hidden challenges of living with diabetes ([06:51]).
• Emphasizes not just patient stories but also caregivers, such as Lindsey Kaiser, a mother to three T1D children ([11:40]).
• Incorporates archival footage from over a decade of working with Elizabeth and the Diabetes community ([17:56]).

4. Emotional Realities in the Diabetes Community

• Rebecca discusses learning about Elizabeth’s hidden sadness and the loneliness of diabetes:
  • “She puts on a brave face, but she can be sad, too.... She doesn't let people in. But she can be sad. And...when you see people sad, it impacts you.” – Rebecca (B), [18:37]
• Looks for authenticity, pushing subjects (like Chris Rudin) to go beyond public positivity and discuss everyday, ongoing challenges ([19:05]).

5. Documentary Filmmaking Process

• Extensive repurposing of past footage, integrating with new content ([17:56]).
• Large, collaborative effort: Includes vignettes of multiple influential people and scientific experts ([25:59]).
• Detailed process: Uses note cards and whiteboarding to organize and shuffle scenes ([28:12]).
• Editing in phases, with current phase being post-production and aiming for a February 2027 premiere ([27:12]).
• Over 30 hours of footage already collected ([30:29]).

6. Balancing Tone – Authenticity over Pollyanna

• Rebecca avoids both toxic positivity and misery, aiming for a blend that reveals the true complexity and challenges of diabetes, while celebrating resilience ([31:10]):
  • “There are so many complex emotions that are the underlying drivers of, of the positive outcomes. So I want to share all of that...” – Rebecca (B), [32:40]

7. Distribution Plans and Intended Impact

• Goal: Cultivate empathy in both the diabetes community and the broader public ([24:17]).
  • “We want those people to feel seen and feel understood. We also want to educate the general public and build a deeper baseline of awareness and empathy around the disease.” – Rebecca (B), [24:35]
• Festival runs, premiere event, hiring a sales agent for broader distribution.

8. Personal Motivation and Vulnerability

• Scott and Rebecca both reveal how personal struggles and childhood circumstances influenced their drive to help others and tell authentic stories ([43:47]-[44:39]).
• “There’s a lot of deeply ingrained feeling in me...because I needed help myself, and I had people that gave that to me, and so I want to be that person for other people.” – Rebecca (B), [44:39]

9. Perspectives on the Search for a Cure

• Rebecca is highly optimistic, noting advances at the Diabetes Research Institute ([48:01]).
  • “I am incredibly optimistic...I feel like it’s right around the corner.” – Rebecca (B), [48:01]
• Scott tempers the optimism with realism about regulatory and logistical barriers, prompting a discussion about the slow, gradual nature of medical breakthroughs ([49:42]-[52:49]).
• A sobering anecdote: In some parts of the world, diabetes remains a death sentence, highlighting global inequality ([52:52]).

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On the perpetual hope (and fatigue) of a cure:
  • “We're celebrating 25 years of this show, but we're also 25 years without a cure.” – Rebecca (B), [11:45]
• On the complexity of real stories:
  • “The reality holds both truths. Like it's an awful daily, it's a horrible disease. And the reality of, of having to deal with that all of the time while also trying to live out your dreams and do amazing things.” – Rebecca (B), [35:08]
• On documentary filmmaking:
  • “It's for sure a puzzle...once you film, it shifts all over again because you have things that happen while you're filming that you didn't anticipate.” – Rebecca (B), [28:12]
• On personal motivation:
  • “There's a lot of deeply ingrained feeling in me of needing to help others, I think, because I needed help myself, and I had people that gave that to me, and so I want to be that person for other people.” – Rebecca (B), [44:39]
• The Incredibles analogy for hope:
  • “That scene in the Incredibles where the little boy's in the driveway and Mr. Incredible goes, ‘What are you waiting for?’ ...‘I don’t know. Something amazing.’ That's how I feel sometimes." – Scott (A), [54:40]

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Important Timestamps

• Rebecca’s pivot to film: [03:12]
• First encounter with the diabetes community: [08:17]
• Emotional impact of early interviews: [09:27]
• Project expansion and filmmaking approach: [17:56]
• Learning about Elizabeth’s hidden struggle: [18:37]
• Documentary process & puzzle metaphor: [28:12]
• Current status of the film: [27:12]
• Discussion on the hope and realism around cures: [48:01]
• Global inequality in diabetes care: [52:52]
• Film website and how to get involved: [56:46]

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How Listeners Can Support

• Follow and Share:
  • Website: beyondthediagnosisfilm.com ([56:46])
  • Instagram, YouTube, Facebook: Beyond the Diagnosis Film
  • Direct contact: Hodgesfilm (Rebecca) and Touch by Type 1 (Elizabeth Forrest)
• Donate:
  • Donations for production/post-production are accepted via the website ([57:30])
• Spread Awareness:
  • Share the project with the diabetes community and beyond ([57:19])
  • Attend premieres, festivals, and support dissemination to “get this movie seen” ([56:46])

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Tone and Takeaway

The episode is candid, empathetic, occasionally humorous, and always grounded in real experience. Both Scott and Rebecca advocate for a storytelling approach that blends truth with hope, honors complexity, and seeks to make invisible struggles seen. If you care about the power of narrative in health advocacy—or simply want a window into the intersection of chronic illness and filmmaking—this episode is a compelling listen.

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For more details and updates, visit beyondthediagnosisfilm.com or search "Beyond the Diagnosis Film" on major social platforms.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome back friends. You are listening to the Juice Box Podcast.

[B]

My name is Rebecca Hodges. I am a filmmaker and yeah, my goal is just to tell impactful stories and hopefully create some positive change in the world.

[A]

If this is your first time listening to the Juice Box Podcast and you'd like to hear more, thanks for watching. Download Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Really any audio app at all. Look for the Juice Box Podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. Want to learn more about your diabetes management? Go to juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu and look for Bold Beginnings, the Diabetes Pro Tip Series and much more. This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juice Box Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin. This episode is sponsored by Able Now Tax Advantaged Savings Accounts for Eligible Individuals with Disabilities. If you or your child lives with diabetes, you may qualify for an Able account because of ongoing medical needs and many people in the diet diabetes community do. With ablenow you can save for future expenses without affecting eligibility for certain disability benefits such as Medicaid. Learn more and check your [e-mail] you spell that a b l e n o w.com today's episode is also sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes who is making life with diabetes easier with the mini med 780G system and their new sensor options which include the Instinct Sensor made by Abbott. Would you like to unleash the full potential of the mini med 780G system? You can do that at my link medtronicdiabetes.com Juicebox the podcast is also sponsored today by the Contour Next Gen Blood Glucose Meter. This is the meter that my daughter has on her person right now. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you@contour next.com juicebox My name is Rebecca Hodges.

[B]

I am a filmmaker. I started my own company which is called Hodges film in 2016. I started it in Orlando but now I am Boston based and yeah, my goal is just to tell impactful stories and hopefully create some positive change in the world.

[A]

That's awesome. How do you make a decision like that? Like when most of us are just thinking about paycheck or maybe get me some health insurance, I'd like to have a place to live. How do you land on something that sounds to an outsider? I'm an outsider. It sounds like what you just said was, I decided to waste my time and not make any money. And so, like. But, but. But obviously, 10 years later, you're still doing it. So what's the path that gets you to that?

[B]

Well, the funny thing is that I. I started off with a scholarship to college, and I went thinking that I was going to go pre med. And when I got there my second semester, I went into a film class, and I stopped going to all of my other classes so that I could just go to my film class and spend all of my time working on my project there. And when I finished it, the professor of the class took me aside and he said, I think that you're quite talented, and I think that this is something that you might actually want to pursue. And when I told my dad, I don't think I'm going pre med anymore. I think I want to go into film. And he was like, thank God we didn't think he wanted to be a doctor anyway.

[A]

Oh, really? Oh, that's nice. Are your parents hippies? What's the. How come they were so accepting?

[B]

No, my dad was a lawyer and my mom was a nurse. But I think that they just saw in me that I'm a very creative person. And even though I thought going down one path, you know, to have insurance and to have money to buy a house, you know, they saw that and they were like, we still think that that's the wrong path for you.

[A]

Isn't that awesome? Oh, it's wonderful.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then when you're done with your education, how do you get into the business? Do you end up working for somebody? You try something on your own. What's the first step?

[B]

Yes, so I. I finished my degree actually at Full Sail in Orlando. And out of that I was hired into an internship. And from the internship, I was hired to become an assistant editor. And then I told my boss, I don't just want to be an assistant editor. I want you to give me some more production work. So we at the facility, we bought a camera, and I started going out and producing my own projects. So then within the next two years, I was a producer, director, and editor at that same facility. And when I left there in 2016 and started my own company, it was because I wanted to curate the projects that I was working on. And that's, you know, again, the storytelling that I like to be involved in is stories that are creating change.

[A]

Okay, well, that's really awesome. You're a bit of a go getter then.

[B]

I Am.

[A]

Yeah. So now it sound. Me. It sounds like it. You're like, I have a job in the thing. I like not enough. Give me more. This was fun. I got to get out of here. You know? That's great. That's good energy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Listen, I'm not going to lie to you. When I was a young person, I used to think I wanted to write for movies. I didn't do what you did. I started. I finally had an idea that I liked, and I sat down and I wrote all day. And I remember. I just. I think I had just been married. We were really young, and I showed it to my wife when she got home. She read the whole thing, you know, and she's like, this is really very good. And I was like, thank you. And she goes, have you ever read A Bridge to Terabithia? And I said, no. Why? And she goes, well, you're writing it. And I was like. And I went, oh, but what I. Rebecca, instead of taking from that. That the first time I had an idea, it was reasonable. You know what I mean? Instead of taking that, I thought, oh, everybody's already had all those ideas. I'm never gonna have a new idea. And I let it make me, like, disenchanted with the whole idea of the whole thing. Yeah, it threw me.

[B]

Finding new ways to tell an old story is, I think, something that every creator has to face.

[A]

Yeah, well, now I do that with people who live with diabetes, so it worked out well. And I brought it up so I could say that, so I could segue into. I just like to pull the curtain back so everybody knows how they're being manipulated. Can you tell me what you're working on right now?

[B]

Yeah. So the film is called beyond the Diagnosis. It's a film that follows real people living with type 1 diabetes and explores the parts of the disease that I don't think a lot of people get to see. So the constant decision making, the emotional wait, and then at the end of the day, the resilience that these people are taking with them to live their life every single day.

[A]

Okay, how long have you been working on it?

[B]

Oh, boy. The film is focused on Elizabeth Forrest, who you know well, but she is the founder of touched by type 1 and dancing for Diabetes. I started working with her in 2014, and we worked on different stories, different awareness campaigns for years. And I think probably after five years, I said, I think that this is a bigger story. I think that we should be making a feature film. So we kind of talked about it for a While. And then a year and a half ago, I said, elizabeth, I'm going to put together a board to help get this film up and running. And so at that point, we said, this is go time, and we put together a team. She came on as my executive producer. I'm producing and directing touch by. Type 1 is a partner film is in association with them. We then brought on the Diabetes Research Institute. So it's been growing and getting momentum ever since.

[A]

That's awesome. How did you know Elizabeth back then? Do you have diabetes in your family or your life?

[B]

No. I actually knew Nothing about Type 1 when I met her. I met her through an intern at my previous job. My intern came to me and said, I'm shooting a live dance show and I really need some help. And so I started working with her on that. And then she was like, I think you need to meet Elizabeth and you need to take over. So I met Elizabeth and the rest is history.

[A]

Yeah, no, she's wonderful. She's another go getter with a lot of good energy.

[B]

She sure is.

[A]

I love the interns. Like, I took a job I shouldn't have taken. Was that about the vibe, like, I need help, or just. Because that dance show is huge. Yeah, yeah. It's quite an undertaking.

[B]

It gets bigger and bigger every year.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And that's something else. I want you to remind me when we're done that I have a question I want to ask you while we're being recorded, but it's about me. It's not about this, so don't. I want to be greedy at the end. Okay, so tell me then, in your time with Dancing for Diabetes and with Elizabeth and touched by type 1 and the time you've been around it, how did your understanding of diabetes grow? And then I want to know how it may be moved again after you started making the film.

[B]

When I started in 2014, I knew absolutely nothing. And I actually. My very first interview, I was interviewing a little girl who was part of the. Elizabeth has this program called the Kids and Teens Dance Program, where she gets together groups of children and teenagers who have type 1 diabetes so that they can all just be, you know, normal kids together in a dance. And I was interviewing one of the girls, and we asked her a question about, how does it feel like, when. When you're overwhelmed, what do you do? And she said, I talked to my sister. And then she got really quiet, and we said, how are you feeling now? Are you going to cry? And she just completely broke down, and I Guess that right before she had come into class, she and her mom were reading about the search for a cure and how it's right around the corner. And she was so excited. But you know, you get excited and then you're waiting, waiting, waiting, and it's like this never ending journey. And when she started crying, I just emotionally broke inside. And I was like, I want to help these people. You know, I'm not going to be the one to cure this disease. But if I can tell stories to create more awareness or to engage people with the scientific community, like that's what I can do, that's what my part will be. So I started learning with every person that we interview, with every project that we tackle, I learn more. Now I feel like I'm quite educated about type 1 diabetes. And when I'm talking to people who don't know so much, I'm able to tell them a lot about the disease. I will say that when we started filming, which we started filming around the 25th annual Dancing for Diabetes show this past November, and when we were filming that, what hit me really hard was caretaker fatigue and getting to know one of our protagonists, Lindsey Kaiser, who has the life on sweet street, Facebook and Instagram for a social platform. She doesn't have type 1 diabetes herself, but she has three children who all have type 1 diabetes. And so in her sharing her stories about watching these kids grow and taking care of them, hearing about the caretaker fatigue and then also hearing Elizabeth give her interview the day after the Dancing for Diabetes show and she was feeling like really low that day. She had, you know, she works all year round for this show and she's on such a high that night and she's collecting dollars to go towards curing this disease. And then the next day she was so low and she was saying, well, we're going to start again for next year because we still don't have a cure for this disease. So we're celebrating 25 years of this show, but we're also 25 years without a cure. So it wasn't so much the knowledge about the disease, but really seeing how impacting it is on emotional welfare of everybody involved.

[A]

Yeah. Rebecca, striking me how similar the decision you made was to the one I made and how Elizabeth experience is similar to mine as well. I, you know, for context, My daughter is 22 now, but she was diagnosed like right after her second birthday. And I remember thinking a year later, like, I, I should help somehow. I can't. I'm not going to cure this. I'm Not a doctor. I'm not a scientist. I don't understand any of it. I wonder what I could do. And. And I started doing. I mean, what was the beginnings of all this? And I see it help people immensely every day. And yet I can really relate to Elizabeth because it's hard not to. It's hard to fight off the feeling that you haven't done enough, that it's very real and you actually have to find a way to compartmentalize it or it'll take you over. So. Yeah, but I know how. And I also know how hard she works and how. Like she and I probably text. I would say we probably text a dozen times a year, you know, about something. And she's just always thinking about how to help, how to do. How to create. You know, it's really admirable. Is. Yeah is a word. Anyway, I. It's nice that you fell into that feeling after having that experience. Hard not to, right? Like, hard not to be around another person feeling that way and not have more than just a little bit of. I don't know, of a reaction to them. And you had a way you felt like to. What. What did you think? Shine a light on it. Help other people understand. Like when you said I'm going to help, like, how did you feel? Like. Like, where did you think your talent would help? Contour next.com juicebox that's the link you'll use to find out more about the Contour Next Gen blood glucose meter. When you get there, there's a little bit at the top you can click right on. Blood glucose monitoring. I'll do it with you. Go to meters. Click on any of the meters. I'll click on the Next gen and you're going to get more information. It's easy to use and highly accurate. Smart Light provides a simple understanding of your blood glucose levels. And of course, with Second Chance sampling technology, you can save money with fewer wasted test strips. As if all that wasn't enough, the Contour Next Gen also has a compatible app for an easy way to share and see your blood glucose results. Contour next.com juicebox and if you scroll down at that link, you're going to see things like a buy now button. You could register your meter after you purchase it or what is this? Download a coupon? Oh, receive a free Contour Next Gen blood glucose meter. Do tell. Contour next.com juicebox Head over there. Now get the same accurate and reliable meter that we use. As I told you earlier, Able now is sponsoring this episode. Able now, of course, tax advantaged ABLE accounts for eligible individuals with disabilities. If you or your child lives with diabetes, you may qualify for an ABLE account because of ongoing medical needs. Many people in the diabetes community do. With ablenow, you can save for future expenses without affecting eligibility for certain disability benefits such as Medicaid. And thanks to updates to federal law, ABLE accounts are now available to more people than ever before. That means more individuals and families can use ABLE now to save and invest. Funds in an ablenow account can be used for a wide range of everyday needs, including education, transportation, healthcare, assistive technology, and more. There's no enrollment fee, and you can open an ablenow account with a small initial contribution and build from there. Learn more and check your [e-mail] that's ablenow.com a b l e n o w dot com.

[B]

Yeah, so I think shining a light on it, helping other people understand was the beginning, and then that grew. So a few years later, we had interviewed Josh and Jamie Terry, who are the parents of Kaisey Terry. Kaisey had a misdiagnosis when she was five years old, and she had strokes and cerebral edema and ended up passing away from complications of being misdiagnosed and not diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on time. And so when we created a story around that, what I could do at that point is share the signs of what type 1 diabetes looks like. And every year on Kaise's birthday, we actually reshared those posts of things to look for. So, you know, talking about misdiagnosis, talking about signs and symptoms, and then that shifted to again, the. The emotional health. What does it look like to be taking care of one another and growing a community? So every year the goal changes, the project changes, the interviews change, but it's. It's constantly shifting and just trying to figure out how to better support the community and how to share those stories to engage a wider audience.

[A]

Do you forget I get sullen sometimes when I think of all the stuff that I've created that is sitting somewhere not doing anything anymore. But I know it would still be valuable if I could find a way to repurpose it. Do you. Does that. I mean, after you've been at this for a while, do you have those thoughts sometimes?

[B]

Well, no, because this project's all about repurposing.

[A]

Yes, but that's what you're doing really, right, is you're taking everything you've learned and putting it into one place.

[B]

Yeah. And. And because this documentary is focused around Elizabeth and I've been working with her for, you know, going on 11 years now, we're taking footage that we've collected. So it's a big undertaking as a filmmaker to go through all of this, but repurposing everything that we've already created and merging it with all of the new content that we're gathering. But I think that that's one of the powerful things, is, like, look at how far we've come, but look at how far we still have to go.

[A]

Yeah. Tell me something. Don't give me a shiny answer. Right. Just really like, what have you learned about Elizabeth making the film that you didn't know before?

[B]

That she puts on a brave face, but that she can be sad, too.

[A]

You didn't know that prior to that?

[B]

No, because she. She's so stoic. And I tell this to her all the time because whenever I interview her, I say, you gotta let me in. And she. She always does have the shiny answers. And it's because she's running all of these programs and she is the go getter, and she's trying to help so many people that she doesn't let people in. But she can be sad. And she. It's a type 1 diabetes is a very lonely disease. I think when she actually let me in and she showed me that sadness and she showed me how hard it is to fight for this 24, 7, 365 days a year. Honestly, after we filmed that day, when I flew home, I felt like I needed to take a few days for myself because, you know, when you see people sad, it impacts you. And this was like a very deep. I don't want to say she's depressed. That's not. I understand what you're saying, but it was heavy. It was really heavy. You know, she doesn't show that to many people. And being able to see that and really seeing the reality, and that was the same thing. Another person who's involved in this film is Chris Rudin, and he's a public speaker and he's a go getter, and he's very positive, positive, positive. And when I talked to him, I said, I don't want all of the positivity. Like, of course we're going to talk about that. And I want to hear about all of the things that you've done to turn this disease into something that works for you every day, or something that you can share, something that you can be useful with to other people. But I said, at the end of the day, I also want to hear about the underlying challenges and everything that you're up against. And he was like, oh, I can talk about that all day because it's every day, all of the time.

[A]

Yeah, it's not hard to find. I've interviewed Chris a few times and he's good at sharing how he feels. Yeah, when you talk about the heaviness that came from Elizabeth, was it heaviness around what she's doing, the mission of it, or did any of her personal experience with diabetes come through because she has Type one? And it just occurs to me that you're out there pointing a camera at other people and talking to them about what it's like to live with diabetes while you're showing what Elizabeth is trying to do for those people and for Type one in general. But do we get to talk about what it's like for her personally? Unlike other systems that will wait until your blood sugar is 180 before delivering corrections, the MiniMed 780G system is the only system with meal detection technology that automatically detects rising sugar levels and delivers more insulin as needed to help keep your sugar levels in range and even if you're not a perfect carb counter. Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes and their MiniMed 780G system, which gives you real choices because the MiniMed 780G system works with the Instinct sensor made by Abbott as well as the Simplera Sync and Guardian 4 sensors, giving you options. The Instinct sensor is the longest wear Sensor yet, lasting 15 days and designed exclusively for the Mini Med 780G. And don't forget, Medtronic Diabetes makes technology accessible for you with comprehensive insurance support programs to help you with your out of pocket costs. We're switching from other pump and CGM systems. Learn more and get started today with my link medtronicdiabetes.com juicebox yes we do.

[B]

And that is one of the main parts of this documentary is we're going behind the scenes. So while the main through line of the doc is about Elizabeth putting together this 25th annual dancing for Diabetes show, we really get to see the different things that are happening. For instance, we see her having to do a pod change in the car because she something was faulty and she was getting errors and so she had to go into her car in between interviewing other people to go and change her sight on her body and then we're going to interview somebody else and she's going low and she keeps dropping, dropping, dropping. Alarms are going off and she's like oh well I left my fruit Snacks in the car. Does anybody have anything? And everybody's running around looking for sugar. And it was right around Halloween. So we were in a school and the teacher opened up the door and she's like, kids, we need candy. But, yeah, I think that there are so many little vignettes that are happening here. Where it is focusing on what's happening behind the curtain. That is where that sadness lies. It's in these individual moments that are happening all of the time that people don't necessarily see.

[A]

I'm constantly faced with the idea that the online digital world today is not the same as it was when I started all of this. And I usually tell people, like, there was a time I could have written a blog post and it could have been read by 40,000 people in 24 hours. And now I arguably have a much larger platform, and it's a thousand times harder to get something in someone's hands. So what's the distribution like for this? How are you expecting to. To get it into people's hands and get them to see it? And is it. Do you have a. I would imagine more of a macro view of what success looks like? Right. This isn't. It's not a Mission Impossible 9 or something like that. You don't expect everybody to go the first day. Right. Like, so what's the. You have a plan, or is that a thing you haven't put together yet?

[B]

We do have a plan. We definitely want it to be seen in festivals. We're planning a premiere in a theater. The larger distribution plan is something that I'm working out now. I'm going to bring on a sales agent. So in the film world, working with a sales agent is where you're able to connect with distributors and make sure that your film gets seen by a large group of people, which is the goal here. But, yes, we're working on distribution plans. The goal of the film is really to engage the type 1 diabetes community, because a lot of people say that this is an invisible disease. And we want those people to feel seen and feel understood. We also want to educate the general public and build a deeper baseline of awareness and empathy around the disease. And then we also want to translate that awareness into meaningful change, whether that's stronger advocacy, whether it's legislative progress or money going towards research and innovation, because we're in a global race for a cure. And so we want to also bring that to the front lines. So I would say that those are our goals. We also want people who are involved in the making of the film. To be able to share it with all of their followers.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And hopefully it just gets to get to the people that really need to see it. Whether they have type 1 diabetes or

[A]

not makes its way around. Do you think that it will resonate outside of people with Type one? Like, I mean, how much of it do you have shot already? Is it. I mean, are you in the editing phase now? Are you still shooting? Where's it at? And who do you think? Who do you think the real audience is for it?

[B]

So we're working in three phases. We had pre production and the production of phase one, where we shot around the 25th annual dancing for Diabetes in November. So I would say that that's about 65 or 75% of the film that's in the can. And then we're going to go around and shoot with the rest of the people who are involved in the film. So that's Chris Rudin, Gary Forbes, the Terry family, Lindsey Kaiser, Camilo Ricordi at the Diabetes Research Institute, and then Penelope Polly, who's an endocrinologist in Orlando.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So we're going to go and shoot. We're going to get some scientific background and some education for those who don't necessarily understand the disease. And then we're going to do all of the vignettes where we explore all of those individuals lives and what they're doing to impact people living with type 1 diabetes.

[A]

Oh, that's cool. You'll do the vignettes. Then the doctors will kind of be like whiteboard and explainers and then move people into another story. Is that the idea?

[B]

Yeah. And especially there's so much going on in this race towards a cure right now. So, you know, I'm going to get Dr. Camilo Ricordi to explain in layman's terms what's happening because it's really fascinating.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So once we have all of that, that will be phase two and then post production will be phase three. And we're looking to premiere the film. Our target date right now is February of 2027. So although it seems far away, it's not.

[A]

It doesn't seem far away to me. I'm old now. I. Time moves so quickly. I just, I can't believe how fast I have something coming up next week that I keep looking out on the calendar. I'm like, that can't be right. I'm not. That was like a year away when I said yes to that. So it's Wednesday. I got to go on Wednesday. So I should probably think about this for Half a minute before I head over there. No, no, that's really. It's really lovely. So when you're setting, do you kind of like. I don't know, do you. Do you imagine it in your head before you shoot it, or do you start talking to people and then see what you get? And then do you fit the pieces together then, like, do you know what I mean? Like, is it a puzzle in a box when you start, or do you open up the pieces and go, I wonder if I can make something out of this?

[B]

Oh, it's for sure a puzzle. The way that I work is I love note cards, and I'll write out ideas of different things that are happening. Again, in working very closely with Elizabeth, we were talking about different events that she had going on, and she wanted to go back to her high school where the. Actually, it was her middle school where her first dancing for diabetes was ever held. So we create looking at events, different things that are going on. I make different scene index cards, and then I put them all up on a whiteboard and I start shuffling them around. What leads from one scene to the next? And then how do we get. Every scene should lead into the following scene. And then if you need more explanation of something, where does that fall in? And so, yes, it becomes this giant puzzle. And you're constantly shifting things around, and then once you film, it shifts all over again because you have things that happen while you're filming that you didn't anticipate were going to happen. So then you kind of add those in and. And it becomes this giant shuffle. But when you're. You're focused on a through line of where you need to go, everything will eventually fall into place. But the shifting and the tossing out of ideas, it's. It's a beautiful creative meh.

[A]

Do you edit as you go?

[B]

I don't typically edit as I go. I have had to for this project because we. We needed to create a pitch deck which you use to, you know, launch out to investors. We needed to create a trailer for. We just had a big gala event that we held in Orlando at the Dr. Phillips Center. So I've had to edit my way through this because we're trying to show individuals different scenes that are happening and why they would either want to watch it or get involved in investing. I have a really great idea of what we've collected so far because I'm always there during all of the filming, but I typically like to collect everything and then sit down and immerse myself in the edit. Because once I get into the edit, I like to be sitting here for, you know, eight to 10 to 12 hours, because everything starts flowing, and you just. You're very present in the edit.

[A]

How many hours of film do you have so far?

[B]

I want to say 30.

[A]

Okay. That's a lot. Are you going to be at the thing I'm at next week for. For Elizabeth in Atlanta?

[B]

I will not be in Atlanta, no.

[A]

Okay. Because you have similar coverage already. Is that the idea? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so interesting. How do you keep it from feeling Pollyanna? Do you know what I mean? Like, I've seen stuff in the past where it's just like, wow, why is this all like, big smile, lady, where everything's great and like. Like, how do you. Like, how do you get to the grittiness of it without making it a bummer, but making it real enough that it doesn't feel like it's. Does that make sense? Yeah. Have you had concerns like that? Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. There's a fine line, and you actually asked me earlier, and I don't even think that I answered it. You said, why would somebody who doesn't have type 1 be interested in watching this? I think that there's a fine line here of telling the grittiness because people who don't see Type one don't get it. I'm just. They don't get it for sure. And when they, you know, see a kid who's checking their blood sugar and they're like, oh, well, you just shouldn't have had that soda. You know, all of the. The misconceptions that are out there, they're so real, and they impact these people every single day. I think that the vignettes will be focused on underlying issues of what each protagonist deals with. And then through those issues and through facing that adversity, they've all come out on the other side to do something, to create something. So, like Gary Forbes, he is a former NBA player, and he is now working on a comic platform where he turns kids with chronic conditions into superheroes. And specifically, one of those characters has type 1 diabetes. But it's through his journey of, you know, he had all sorts of things that he came up against going into dka. Going into. He had two car accidents because he was low. So there are all of these things that build up his story, and now what are the actions that he's doing to share that story and to better the lives of others? So I don't think that it's ever going to be Pollyanna because there are so many, you know, complex emotions that are the underlying drivers of, of the positive outcomes. So I want to share all of that and I think that that's intriguing to anybody whether you have type 1 diabetes or not. I would love to watch a movie where, you know, you see somebody who's dealing with this disease, something that you don't truly understand. You're like, wow, I didn't know that, you know, people are afraid to go to sleep because they might not wake up in the morning. I didn't know that somebody could be misdiagnosed at five years old and then pass away. I didn't know that parents who just like you have a 2 year old who is diagnosed, it's like taking care of a baby, you need to be checking them all the time. So I think that there are fascinating stories that need to be told to people who have no idea about what's going on. People who have type one who can watch this film and be like, yes, somebody really gets what this is like. And finally there's a story that everybody can watch that kind of explains what's going on.

[A]

Do you think it's helpful in your ability to be dispassionate about it that you don't have type one or a personal connection to it, but you have context?

[B]

Yeah, probably, yeah.

[A]

I'll tell you because I've been around, I don't want to call it the space that feels weird, but I've been doing stuff in diabetes for a really long time when I'm dissatisfied with how people are doing things and I'm, you know, I'm, I'm busy acting like the king of the world in my own mind or in this room. I don't like it when people come off like the, I don't know, the secretary from Ferris Bueller, you know what I mean, where it's just like, oh gosh golly, everything's awesome, you know, right? Like that stuff. And I don't like it when people are like, I almost died today for the want of a cookie. And I'm like, there's a middle. There's a middle in there that's not so like either dramatic or and ham fisted or you know, dismissive of the seriousness of it and trying to make it all be like, oh no, I'm good, everything's good. Like there's a reality in the blend there and I'm super excited to see you to get a hold of that. That is just, to me, we don't have enough of that around Diabetes, if you want people to really understand it and you have to let people talk, but you have to also mix in, you know, real life and some levity. And it's got to be a full blend of what it means to be a human being, not just, you know, not just a slice of it that makes it seem all one way or the other. I don't know if that makes sense, but.

[B]

No, definitely. And I think exactly what you just said, the reality holds both truths. Like it's an awful daily, it's a horrible disease. And the reality of, of having to deal with that all of the time while also trying to live out your dreams and do amazing things. I mean, the fine line exists in everyday life.

[A]

I just, I find too with interviewing people. So I, I don't have the benefit of looking at people, which I think has sort of made me better at this over time because there's a lot of intimating that has to happen and I can't be wrong or it comes off as false pretty quickly. And I was just listening to an interview I did recently with like a 25 year old type one, and you could tell that she had, there was stuff right under the surface she wanted to let out, but she didn't have the words or the reason to let it out. And then if you just ask the right question, it opens a floodgate for them and they, they can unburden themselves, but in a, but not in a, a distasteful way. It's just very real. And you can tell how the better they feel when I'm done speaking to them, the more sure I am that the conversation was valuable for someone else to hear. Does that make sense?

[B]

Yeah, for sure.

[A]

It's a really interesting job. I much rather what I'm doing than the stuff I'd done previous in my life. It's a great job if you can get it, is what I'm saying. Will you miss it when it's over? Or do you think you'll have had enough of the immersive of, of the process? Like how, because you've done other things in the past. Like, do you find yourself like this one job, just build your humanity for the next one? I mean, do you lose it completely? Like, is there a world where you'll wake up six years from now and like, have not thought about diabetes for a while? Is it a thing that you process? Or how does that all work for you personally?

[B]

No, no, Elizabeth can't get rid of me. I'm on, I am on the board of Touch by type 1. Now, I don't ever foresee a day where I'm not working with Touch by Type one. And Elizabeth, I know that this documentary film will come to an end, and I do think that I'll be sad when. When it's over. But like you said, this is. This will just build up to the next project and I've got to find something else that I think is interesting and that I feel passionate about and think that people should know about and keep the ball rolling.

[A]

It's interesting. So you don't really know what you'll do after this.

[B]

I have a few ideas.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Because you should always have something in production, in post production, and in development.

[A]

So is it about a. A little too old? Not that handsome podcaster. Is that what's happening right now? I'm just kidding. Please don't.

[B]

You. You know how to find me.

[A]

If you pointed a camera at me, I would be either. I don't know what would happen is. One of two things would happen, Rebecca. Either the fat kid inside of me would put his head down or. Or I would be absolutely unbearable. I would pontificate forever.

[B]

I have filmed you at.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. A Touch by Type one.

[B]

The. At the. Touch by Type one. Oh, gosh. What is it called? The annual conference. Conference. Thank you.

[A]

I did a stand up there. That was. That was. Is that right? Is that where it was?

[B]

Well, I've seen you there like three or four times, and one time you were over talking to a child at a table and I went running over with my camera and you were like, get out of here. Don't film me.

[A]

Was that a couple of years ago?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I was worried about my weight back then. Now you can point it at me if you want to. It's different. But no, I. I just know that I'll like, there was. I. I did this thing for jdrf. It was huge in Georgia one year. I mean, there was a room. It was 650 people in that room. And there was this part of me inside. It was like, please get a nice wide shot of me talking to 600 people. Like that. And then there was the rest of me that was like, but could you shoot it from the roof? And I actually said to the cameraman, I was like, do not point that thing at me from down there. I was like, you better go find a ladder and climb, my friend. I used to think of my. I didn't think of myself as caring about that, but when push came to shove and a camera came out, I Was aware of it. And now I've actually, you know, with the help of a GLP medication, Rebecca, I've lost, like, 70 pounds, like, and now I don't think about it anymore. It's very freeing, actually. I actually just did some content for Omnipod recently. And it was one of those things, like, you know, you show up at a studio, stand in front of a big, you know, high def camera with a lot of light and nowhere to hide. And. Yeah, and. And I was like, it's terrifying. And, well, the terrifying part was how not terrified I was. Which is why I think that if you pointed a camera at me, you would just be like, this guy's insufferable. He has a lot of thoughts. But I had this nice moment afterwards when, I mean, when they got done with it, obviously some very talented people, you know, do the editing and. And, you know, do the color and all that stuff. It looks so. It looks amazing when it's done. But I had a few people online tell me that I was really natural at that first format. And I thought, oh, I've been avoiding doing that my whole life. And then somebody said, I think this would be a great way for you to get some of your information out. And all I thought was, who's gonna do that? Like, how am I. I don't know how to light that. I don't have. I don't want to get involved in editing video. Like, it all just seemed, like, overwhelming. And I know that's ridiculous because most of the world just holds up their phone and just puts out whatever they do and doesn't worry about the rest of it. But I think I might be a bit of a princess now that I've seen myself color matched. I think it's. I think maybe that's how I prefer to look. Even. Even today, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about it. But do you do any of that? Like, I'm not asking you. For me, I'm actually. My bigger question is, it's like, how do you make a living doing what you're doing? Like, it sounds like this project's taking years, right? So, like.

[B]

Yes. And this project will take years.

[A]

Yeah. So do you do. Do you intersperse with, like, do you do other work? Like. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

So my production company, Hodges Film, I take on smaller projects that I work on throughout the year. This past year, I. I was very limiting to that. I wanted to solely work on this documentary. I obviously get paid for. For the documentary.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. I have a line Budget item for myself, but hopefully when this documentary gets seen by people, then this will propel another documentary. My goal is for, can you continue to work on feature film? And then I think everybody takes commercial or psa small, smaller work in between. But feature film is where I want to live.

[A]

Got it. That's awesome. And you're. And you've been doing this for how long now? I don't know how old you are. I didn't ask you.

[B]

2016 is when I started my own company. I got into the industry in 2012.

[A]

Okay. Wow, that's a lot. It feels like a long time. How did you find the nerve for it? Because I recall feeling like the. Where I grew up, no one did the thing. Like, so when I was young and people was like, what do you want to do? I'm like, I think I could write a movie script. People would look at me like, you might want to just get a job in a factory and shut your mouth. There was no one around me to, like, say, oh, I know a guy who did that. To kind of expand on that for a second. My son played baseball right through college, and I think he thought that was possible because he knew other people who played baseball in college, and he also knew a guy who played professional baseball. So the whole thing seemed reasonable, you know? Whereas when I started talking about it, people were like, no, that's not a thing. That's not a thing people do. Was it your enthusiasm and what you found at college that made you incapable of ignoring it? Was it a little bit of that mixed with your parents being like, oh, thank God, we did not think you were going to be a good doctor or, you know, like, what was, by the way, they didn't say that. I added that. What made you feel like it was possible?

[B]

Yeah, I think I'm just a very passionate person when I. When I get my hands on something that I want to do, I'm full steam ahead. So I think that it really just took me, and I'm a firm believer that if you're doing something that you love, that, you know, everything else will follow. So.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

It didn't really matter to me that I was going into the arts because I was like, well, I'm going to make something amazing, and, you know, everything else, insurance will come after.

[A]

And you did have a little bit of, like, you said, your father was a professional. Right. So you. There was some comfort. Not comfort. There was some security there. I mean, I'm just saying I was broke. Like, I. I was. I had a really terrible job.

[B]

I wouldn't say that, because. No, I was broke. And actually, as much as it was nice of my parents to say, you don't want to do that. My dad passed away when I was 22.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

And my. My mom, I. You know, this is going deep now, but my. I moved out of my mom's house when I was 14, so it's kind of like a broken home. And maybe that's one of the reasons why, you know, I had to grow up at a very early age. And so, you know, helping to tell these stories that can. That can, you know, impact people, and I can do my part in the world of bringing positivity and making the world a better place. I think that there's a lot of deeply ingrained feeling in me of needing to help others, I think, because I needed help myself, and I had people that gave that to me, and so I want to be that person for other people.

[A]

That's awesome. Also, I think it would be wrong of me to point out that I have now done the thing that I've been describing for the whole hour by getting you to say something deeper. That was real and that was nice. Look at me. I'm really good at this. That's all I wanted to say. Rebecca, there's no way in hell you thought you were going to talk about that today when we started recording this, right?

[B]

No.

[A]

Tell the people how good I am. Rebecca. No, I'm just kidding.

[B]

You did it. No. You're amazing.

[A]

People, like, do people cry on the podcast all the time? I'm like, no. But I know they say a lot of things they didn't expect to say.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Just because there has to be a reason for that. Just the same way. I mean, listen, it's pretty obvious, right? You see a lot of people who grow up with type 1 diabetes get into medicine, or you see Elizabeth, who is absolutely propelled to help people because she needed somebody to help her. And, you know, and you are trying desperately to tell people stories, and I recognize that because I'm doing the same thing. Right. Like, I grew up very poorly, in case you're wondering, Rebecca. You know, my parents were divorced when I was 13. I ended up raising my brothers. You know, my mom was working most of the time. We were completely broke. And when I talk to people, all I wonder inside, always. I'm also adopted, in case you needed, like, a double whammy on this. Everything I do when I'm speaking to somebody is like the. The kernel of the seed of the idea behind what I'm thinking is, why are you doing that? Like, why do people do those things? And not good or bad, by the way, anything at all. Like, what is motivation? What motivates somebody to do something? What allows them to ignore common sense and become a filmmaker? What ignores them to ignore common sense and treat a child poorly? Everything in between. Like, I am utterly fascinated, basically, about why did someone abandon me? And, like, why do people do what they do? And that's what I do. When I talk to people, I just try to figure out where their motivation comes from and where the motivation came from for the people surrounding them that, you know, in essence, were the. You know, the ones who propelled them in the direction their life took them. So I just. I'm very interested in why people do what they do all the time. But probably any reasonable Freudian therapist would tell you it's because I'm adopted, and then my adopted family got divorced. Right. Pretty simple.

[B]

Well, yeah. I mean, your identity. Your identity has shaped, you know, the identity of now, your podcast of how you're reaching out to people. So, yeah, Freud, and. Oh, Freud. I think that searching for that nugget is. It's an important nugget to look for.

[A]

Well, more importantly, I think at some point I was like, well, I can't just keep doing this for myself. Like, I pretty much have my answers. I know where I'm at. So, like, how do you take that then? Like, combine skill and use it for good, basically. Which is what you're doing, by the way. It's what Elizabeth is doing. It's what you're doing. It's what I'm doing, hopefully what a lot of people are doing, and. And maybe one day we'll all get to see it come to fruition somehow. What would you say your feeling is about the chase for a cure? As an outsider to it? Does it feel hopeful? Is it interesting? Does it feel tangible? Does it feel like you'll see it in your lifetime? Or is it just great to know it's happening? What information have you pulled together on all that so far for yourself?

[B]

So I am incredibly optimistic, and I am one of the people who continues to believe that the cure is five years or closer away, especially with the transplantations, everything that's happening right now. I just did a tour at the DRI recently, and I got to see the three main avenues that they're working on in their search for a cure, and I was blown away. So I feel like it's right around the corner. And in my talks with Dr. Camilo, Ricordi. He continues to tell me that this is a very, very exciting time to be in this search. But there are a lot of things that he and the community are up against. He was actually just talking about how the United States is not competitive globally because of the standards that they're facing here. And so they have to treat everything like they're clearing it by the FDA instead of, instead of just being able to research and push everything that they're working on forward.

[A]

I just interviewed Dr. Wachowski the other day.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

From Chicago. And yeah, he was talking about all this as well.

[B]

So it feels like a very exciting time. And I'm not the only one thinking that. I think a lot of people feel that way. But Elizabeth often tells me, you know, calm down a little bit, Rebecca. We've all been waiting for this cure for a really long time. So I try to limit my excitement because I feel like I'm very invested now. You know, I want this cure for all of the people that I know who have type one. And so I hope that I see it in my lifetime again. I'm very optimistic that it's, it's close. How do you feel? You have somebody that, first of all,

[A]

Elizabeth is probably on her fifth or sixth, five year journey with the cure is coming. I would imagine, and I would tell you that I felt prior to talking to Dr. Wachowski and even more so after speaking to him, that there are regulatory hurdles. There are hurdles of even being able to source islet cells. There's hurdles about how many people can actually do the procedure, who the hell's going to pay for it, how do you administer the medication that comes afterwards? You know, is it really reasonable to ask somebody to do something like that every 21 days in the case of his research? You know, are they going to have to make the anti rejection meds something you can take at home eventually? I think that when I hear you talk about it, I agree with you that like it feels like they're on the precipice of something and yet that I think the reality of life and commerce and everything else, even if they had it today, even if somebody stepped up right now and said, here it is, it is the thing, I have it. I don't think that means that my daughter's getting it for 20 years maybe.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And then, you know, and that makes her 50. So does she care by then? Like, I don't even know. It's one of those things that I think, I don't know how to explain this exactly. But I think it'll exist at some point, but it won't be for the people who are paying attention to it right now in mass. Maybe some of them, probably some of them, not all of them, but there might be a day in the future where it just isn't as prevalent it is now because of the thing that was learned and grew and, and you know, changed and reformatted itself over and over again until it becomes what it ends up being. And I don't know how long that takes.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, but that feels like it.

[B]

And that's one of the biggest, biggest questions is when there is a cure developed, how long does it take to get from high end research out to everybody, your everyday Joe. How, how does that transition happen? How many years does it take for that to happen? And, and that's a, that's a real journey right there.

[A]

I sort of separate the medicine and the research from the reality. And I think, and then I start thinking about like, I look at how the world works and. But we can't get my garbage collected on the right day. Like we're going to do this. It's crazy. That's why I think it's just a thing that slowly matriculates until it doesn't exist anymore. And then one day people just don't even realize it was ever a thing. And. But you can't quantify the day it happened. I don't think there's going to be a cure day. I don't think there's going to be a line people get into and they come out the other side of the factory and they're okay. I think it's just going to happen slowly. It'll probably start with the sickest people who can tolerate it. And then, or, and also I'm going to assume some of the richest people and then it will, you know, hopefully spread out over then maybe eventually be covered by insurance in a way that, you know, you get diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and someone instead of sending you to the hospital, they send you somewhere and they go, oh, we're just going to give you some of these cells and give you a little of this juice and you're all set. Like, I don't know, you know.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But I love your attitude.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Seriously, this reminds me of. Elizabeth was just recounting a story that she was told. I can't remember who told it to her, but the gist of it is that there was a boy in Africa. When he urinated, the ants would come to the urine and it was because of the sugar in the urine. And so the diabetes test is the ants come to your urine, and then that means that you have type 1 diabetes. And for them, it's still a death sentence. And so you are almost like the sooner that you pass, the easier it is for them to get help to other people instead of caring for you.

[A]

Oh, gosh.

[B]

So very morbid. But it's like you are taxing our healthcare system with a disease that we don't have a cure for, and so you're prolonging the inevitable.

[A]

Oh, God, what a way to think of it.

[B]

Geez, when you hear that. And it puts this disease into a different light. So I hope that, you know, whether it's a cure that comes around, you know, no cure day, or what, I hope that the development of getting to the cure, like you said, maybe there's something in between that can slow down, that can. I don't know, something in all of these instances that can help people who are in those kind of situations that aren't lucky enough to live in the United States, that aren't lucky enough to have access to care. So that's kind of my hope in all of these situations is that we can get something to people who don't have immediate access to the greater healthcare loop.

[A]

You know how I feel about it. I just realized, you know that scene in the Incredibles where the little boy in the driveway and Mr. Incredible goes, what are you looking at? He goes, what are you waiting for? Or something like that. He goes, I don't know. Something amazing. That's how I feel sometimes. Like, I don't. I don't know what's coming exactly, but I'd like it to be something amazing, you know, Like, I think it's kind of. It's a little like it's academic to sit around and pontificate about what you think it might be or how it's going to look or whatnot, but I don't really care. I just. As long as it's something beneficial for people and it feels like a leap, that would be nice, you know, like, give people some hope and real momentum. Just a leap, I think would be awesome. I don't even care what it looks like. I don't understand what people argue about. I mean, I'll help people make the point if they come on the. On the podcast and they're like, well, that's not a cure. Like, Dr. Wachowski right there, he's got 12 patients. He put islet cells in their liver. He gave them Something called Tegoprobart. And they're. They seem like they're okay. Right? And then there are people like, well, that's not a cure. And I'm like, yeah, I. I mean, is that what you want to argue about? Like, you know what I mean? Like, they don't need. They don't. They don't need insulin anymore. It's pretty awesome, right? You know, they're not going to have a low blood sugar in a movie theater or crash their car or something like that. There's a lot of, you know, value there. I take your point. It's not a light switch. They didn't just flip the switch and go, hey, no more. I know that's how people's minds want to think about it, but, yeah, I would always ask those people, why don't you go sit down and Google how many things has mankind cured? Because you're going to find out that it is a shockingly short list. I don't think we're at that place yet. Like, I don't think we're advanced enough to just throw a light switch and change how your body does something. We don't even understand inflammation. You know what I mean? Like, it's, you know, anyway, be happy for whatever you get.

[B]

I think everybody's waiting for something amazing and waiting for that leap, and I don't feel like that leap is far away.

[A]

Yeah, no, I'm glad. I. I'm glad you feel that way, and I'm glad you understood what I was saying. I am really disappointed. I couldn't remember the quote from the Incredibles, but, you know, I got a lot in my head. It's hard to remember. Rebecca, where can people go to learn more about the film?

[B]

Beyondthediagnosisfilm.com that's the website. We're on Instagram. We are on YouTube. We are on Facebook. You can reach out to myself, which is Hodgesfilm. You can reach out to Elizabeth Forrest at TouchbyType1. But, yeah, I think that we want people to get involved and to follow along with the story. And when it comes to supporting the film and going out and seeing it, going to premieres, we want to drive this through the community and get this movie seen.

[A]

Yeah. What are you asking people to do right now? Anything. Just start following so they know more. Would you like them sharing stuff or telling folks, is there something they could be doing to help you follow, share.

[B]

We have a platform for donations, which there's a link to on the website, but we are in phase two of filming and we're still looking for funding to to go into post production, but I think mainly getting in there, sharing, talking about it and just staying in touch.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Hey listen everybody. Remember Elizabeth is running a it's a charity. It's touched by Type one is not a, it's not a money making business. It's a thing she does to try to help people live easier with type 1 diabetes and she's raising money to give to those out there looking for a cure. She's hustling her her butt off. So she is hustling Rebecca, I really appreciate you doing this with me and also I appreciate you coming on a half an hour early when I bugged you late last night and said can you do this earlier today. So thank you very, very much.

[B]

That is a okay, awesome.

[A]

Hold on one second for me. I'd like to remind you again about the mini Med 780G automated insulin delivery system which of course anticipates, adjusts and corrects every five minutes 24 7. It works around the clock so you can focus on what matters. The Juice Box community knows the importance of using technology to simplify simplify managing diabetes. To learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes, Visit my link medtronicdiabetes.com Juicebox I'd like to thank the blood glucose meter that my daughter carries, the Contour Next Gen Blood Glucose Meter. Learn more and get started [e-mail] juicebox and don't forget, you may be paying more through your insurance right now for the meter you have than you would pay for the Contour Next Gen in cash. There are links in the show notes of the audio app you're listening in right now and [e-mail] to contour and all of the sponsors. A huge thanks to today's sponsor, ablenow. Ablenow offers Tax Advantage Able accounts for eligible individuals with disability disabilities. If you or your child lives with diabetes, you may qualify because of ongoing medical needs. With ablenow you can save for a wide range of disability related expenses without affecting eligibility for certain disability benefits such as Medicaid. And thanks to recent federal law updates, more people are eligible than ever before. Learn more and check your [e-mail] you spell that A B L E N O W.com there's links in the show notes and [e-mail] I can't thank you enough for listening. Please make sure you're subscribed or following in your audio app. I'll be back tomorrow with another episode of the Juice Box Podcast. If you're looking for community around type 1 diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast Private Facebook group juice box podcast type 1 diabetes but everybody is welcome. Type 1 type 2 gestational loved ones it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort or community, check out Juice box podcast type 1 diabetes on Facebook. The Juice Box Podcast is edited by wrongway recording. Wrongwayrecording.com if you'd like your podcast to sound as good as mine, check out [e-mail].