“Even on a good day, life with type 1 diabetes is work,” said Jeff Hitchcock. “Journey Award coins acknowledge that what you do matters and should be recognized.”     

Hitchcock, who is the founder of Children with Diabetes (CWD), a global resource for those living with T1D, knows these challenges all too well. His daughter, Marisa, has lived with type 1 diabetes (T1D) for 35 years, diagnosed in 1989 at the age of two.

Here, we’ll take a closer look at CWD Journey Awards (including the new 5-year coin), how they honor individual and collective experiences with T1D, and how easy it is to apply for one!   

  

How do I get a Journey Award?  

If you’ve been living with T1D for 5, 10, 25, 50, or 75 years, and reside in the U.S., you can APPLY FOR A JOURNEY AWARD. You also have the option to apply on behalf of someone else.   

The 5-year coin is made of solid copper. All other awards are solid bronze coins — plated in silver for 25 years, gold for 50 years, and a combination of gold and silver for 75 years — celebrating a life well-lived with T1D.  

To receive an award, you’ll share your T1D story along with other information on a simple digital form. The coin will be shipped free of charge by Hitchcock, who personally reads each Journey Award submission.  

You can read stories from others here.    

 

Introducing the new 5-year coin  

At the recent 2025 Friends for Life conference held in Orlando, Florida, Hitchcock announced the addition of a 5-year coin to the existing 10-, 25-, 50-, and 75-year awards.  

“These are all big milestones. Five years with T1D is a huge accomplishment, and it should be recognized earlier than 10 years in,” explained Hitchcock. “It’s when most people realize it’s here to stay.”   

For those receiving 50 — or 75-year coins, this means they were diagnosed well before the advent of glucose monitoring and were likely told not to expect much.   

In the past, women with T1D often heard they would have a short life expectancy and never have children. Today, however, they’re sharing photos of themselves with their grandchildren. Holding witness to these stories is often an emotional experience for Hitchcock.  

  

How did CWD take over this Lilly-generated program?  

“I have a very good friend at Lilly, and one day she called me to share some news, ‘Lilly isn’t going to continue with their Journey Awards.’ And I said, ‘You can’t stop this, it’s pure good, and it’s too important to the community.'”  

Then, she asked Hitchcock if he would take it over. Even before he knew if funding would be available, he said “yes.”

“So, we took over the program,” said Hitchcock, who had previously requested and received a 25-year award for his daughter, surprising her with the necklace on her son’s second birthday.  

Lilly sent the remaining awards to CWD, who distributed them until Sasha Squibb, CWD’s creative director, who has lived with T1D for over 25 years, designed and minted the coins.    

“We wanted the awards to be something different,” he said. “CWD as an organization is known for challenge coins, so we wanted to align with our other established practices. Once we received the coins, we made the switch.”  

 

How many Journey Awards have been distributed?  

Over 6,000 Journey Awards have been shipped, representing over 122,000 years of lived experience with T1D. But these figures only account for shipped awards.

“When CWD team members travel to conferences, we bring Journey Awards with us. It’s one of the only ways to get the awards to people living outside of the U.S. — otherwise, it’s prohibitively expensive.”  

These coins represent individual and collective journeys of living with, through, and hopefully beyond our diagnoses. “To think we’ve shipped 800, 50-year awards is incredible,” he said.  

“What I tell people when I give them 50-year awards is that I hope I never give you the 75-year coin, because T1D is over before you would earn it. It’s not that I don’t want people to live 25 more years — I just don’t want T1D to be around in 25 more years.”  

“Of the 75-year coins I’ve shipped (a total of 21 recipients), they are to individuals who hand-sharpened their needles and maybe took one shot a day,” he said. “To be able to recognize their accomplishments is nothing short of miraculous.”  

“I want to make sure there are no barriers preventing anyone from receiving their award because it’s too important,” said Hitchcock, who occasionally includes handwritten notes of encouragement in the packaged Journey Awards.

 

— T1D Exchange employee, Sarah Howard, receiving her 10-year award

How do people usually find out about Journey Awards?  

“We always ask people how they found out about it, and it’s usually through social media,” said Hitchcock, who explained the number of requests tends to fluctuate.  

“For instance, someone recently filmed unboxing their award on TikTok, where they have a significant following. As a result, over the next few days, we had about 100 requests related to that TikTok reel.”    

Hitchcock expressed his gratitude for Lilly’s continued support of Journey Awards. “Their generosity makes these awards available at no cost to everyone in the U.S.,” said Hitchcock, who also tracks the number of shipped awards by state. “California has received the most, at 369 awards, followed closely by Texas with 355, and Florida with 334.”  

“While there have been great improvements in T1D tools, which have dramatically simplified how we do the mechanics, there are still diabetes-related psychosocial challenges. These burdens have not gotten any easier.”  

While some Journey Award applicants write about challenges they’ve faced, they also express a sense of perseverance and motivation to push ahead, he explained. “These small tokens of acknowledgment can go a long way towards reminding people that staying engaged is worth it.”