Campaign to Accelerate: 16-Year-Old Sleeps Atop Flagpole to Support Life-Saving Research

JDRF Canada's Campaign to Accelerate CTV Morning Live speaks with Wilson Gaglardi, a 16-year-old volunteer who will be spending 100 hours living on top of a flagpole to raise funds to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes!

100 years ago, insulin was discovered in Toronto.

Researchers Frederick Banting and Charles Best sold the patent to insulin for only $1, under the belief that no diabetic should be denied access to a life-saving drug.

Today, insulin is the sixthmost expensive liquid in the world and those living with Type 1 Diabetes require insulin to stay alive.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation wants to move beyond insulin and find a cure.

Sixteen-year-old volunteer Wilson Gaglardi is sleeping atop a 40-foot flagpole for 100 hours to help raise funds.

Gaglardi was diagnosed with T1D at the age of six.

Gaglardi is one of five brave Canadians impacted by Type 1 diabetes who are remaining perched atop flagpoles to support JDRF Canada's $100 million Campaign to Accelerate.

The flagpole challenge was inspired by Oliver & Bonacini co-founder and longtime JDRF support, Peter Oliver.

Thirty-two years ago, Oliver lived atop a flagpole until he raised $250,000 for T1D research, after his daughters diagnosis.

The flagpole represents the balancing act of the life and death decisions that those living with T1D face each day.

People can support Gaglardi and JDRF Canada by visiting canadacuresdiabetes.ca and making a donation.