Join the #BlueBalloonChallenge
💙 I can't find a better analogy for how difficult it is to balance the ups and downs of life with type 1 diabetes.
The challenge — created and launched by Medtronic in Europe in 2021, in collaboration with #dedoc° — works like this: film yourself keeping a blue balloon in the air while doing an everyday task — making coffee, working, playing with your kids. That's it. That's the condition. Everything you'd normally do, plus one thing that can never be allowed to drop. It's one of the most accurate pieces of diabetes communication I've seen that doesn't use a single medical image, which is why I was happy to join as an ambassador for the 2022 campaign and help spread the word.
And it wasn't just awareness: for every challenge shared, Medtronic donated €5 to Life for a Child, which provides insulin, supplies and care to young people living with diabetes in under-resourced communities across more than 40 countries. Kids for whom the balloon metaphor isn't a social media challenge — it's a daily reality with far fewer safety nets.
