Hope you’re feeling creative, because Creators for Cures is just two days away! But first, get the skinny on Level One, a free mobile game that makes learning diabetes management fun. (Yes, we said it—FUN!)
Level One: A Free Mobile Game That Teaches Diabetes Management
A member of our advisory council released a new mobile game last week, and—excuse the pun—it’s a game-changer for people newly diagnosed with T1D and their caretakers.
Sam Glassenberg is a game developer whose daughter was diagnosed with T1D at age five. He’s taken what he’s learned about diabetes management and turned it into a game—one that feels like “learning by doing” rather than a crash course in glucodynamics.
If you’ve ever played a physics puzzler on your phone, Level One’s gameplay will feel familiar. As different foods come down the conveyor belt, you dose insulin and juice to keep blood sugar in range. You won’t always get it right… and that’s okay! The beauty of Level One is that it lets you experiment and learn what you’re doing without real-world consequences.
But you don’t have to take our word for it: Level One is a free download on the App Store and Google Play. You can read more about the game’s inspiration in our profile of Sam below.
Creators for Cures Starts on Sunday
It’s time for our big spring fundraiser! Now in its third year, Creators for Cures is an eight-day celebration of our community’s creativity, with fundraising days themed around Horror, Video Games, Tabletop Games, Builders, Artists, Makers, Musicians, and Sports.
Get creative with your own charity stream or tune in & donate during the event to help us smash our $40,000 goal. Ready Type 1 Ambassadors will be popping into streams throughout the event with donation matches from our sponsor, Baqsimi—the first and only dry nasal spray to treat very low blood sugar.
Twitch Stream with Magic: The Gathering Creator Richard Garfield
Heads up, Magic fans: On Tuesday, May 13, the legendary Richard Garfield will join us on the Breakthrough T1D Twitch channel to chat about his incredible career. The conversation will be led by Brian David-Marshall, a beloved member of the Magic community who lives with T1D.
The stream starts at 5:15 p.m. ET / 2:15 p.m. PT on Tuesday, May 13. See you in chat!
Advisor Spotlight: Sam Glassenberg
Many people in our community make comparisons between T1D and video games. It’s a boss fight you can’t win. You’re constantly grinding, but without the payoff of loot drops and leveling up. You could even call it the worst game ever.
That’s how Sam Glassenberg felt during the stressful months after his five-year-old daughter’s diagnosis in 2019. If Sam (a computer engineer) and his wife (a primary care pediatrician) were having this much trouble mastering the T1D game, how did everyone else do it?
As Sam describes it: “We should have been the diabetes-management dream team. Instead, we were totally overwhelmed. After nine months of learning through trial-and-error on our own kid, we finally understood how all this worked and how to manage it. It was at that point I realized—this is stupid. We need to fix this.”
Sam happens to be the CEO of Level Ex, a video game studio that creates medical games to help doctors manage complex patient scenarios. Determined to make life easier for other T1D families, he and his team set out to create a mobile game that trains your brain to manage type 1 diabetes. That game, Level One, is now available for iPhone/iPad and Android as a free download.
Hear the rest of Sam’s story in this Breakthrough T1D blog post.
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