Ashley Novak Butler on the book 'Diabetes and Me' and the Wendy Novak Diabetes Institute

Ashley Novak Butler, the Executive Director of the Lift A Life Novak Family Foundation, discussed her mother Wendy Louise Novak's book "Diabetes and Me" and the mission behind the Wendy Novak Diabetes Institute...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, let's bring Let'sbring in our guest who's been on this
show before, Executive director for theLift of Life Foundation. Her name's Ashley
Novak Butler. Hello, Ashley,welcome back. Hello, Thanks for having
me. Did you go out andget a Taylor Swift coat after she wore
that red coat the other day thateverybody was talking about. I already have

(00:24):
one and I love it. That'sgood. We were wondering today how many
millions of orders came for that coatafter the packer's appearance the other day,
got plenty? Yeah, I wouldthink so too. Hey, Anyway,
I was just stumbling around on theTV the other morning and I saw you

(00:47):
and your mom, your awesome mom, Wendy on the Today Show a couple
of days ago, because your mom'sgot a new book, and they were
talking plenty about the Wendy Novak DiabetesInstitutes here in Louisville and what it's doing
around the world. So I thoughtit'd be fun to get you on and
talk about both of these things.First, the book, Tell me about
your mom's book diabetes and me,Yeah, so my mom started writing this

(01:11):
book about well, it's been almosta three year process, but just wanted
to put together a story about herlife, just talking about what it's like
to live with diabetes and how thedisease has impacted her, but also all
the advances in technology and how thathas been a great development, and just
give encouragement to other diabetics for howto live with it and manage it.

(01:34):
So it's really an inspiring book tobring a lot of hope and just good
feelings to people in that community.Indeed, and what I learned in that
piece the other day was your momwas diagnosed with type one diabetes at like
age seven, Yes, she wasseven years old. Her mom noticed that

(01:56):
she kept going to the bathroom alot, and because her father had the
disease, she recognized the signs rightaway and went to the hospital and sure
enough, I think her blood sugarwas up in like the three hundred four
hundred range. And you know,that day she learned she was going to
take shots the rest of her lifeto live. So it was a pretty

(02:16):
impactful diagnosis. But there was apowerful display of exactly everything that's happening here
in Louisville. We should be soproud of you. We know that your
Novak family has done so many greatthings in helping in so many ways,
so many different causes over the years. But this when the Novak Diabetes Institute

(02:38):
is lengthening lives, saving lives andgiving people new philosophy people who have diabetes.
And I noticed in the piece toothere were like high school kids who
were working through their challenges. Sotell us about the institute itself and what
it's doing for people. Yeah,So, I mean, the goal of

(02:59):
our institut is we want to becomea national center of excellence for elevating Really
what we're trying to do is we'retrying to help individuals with diabetes and their
families manage the disease in an easyway. And so we're really focused on
the things that really impacted my momand her life. To speak. At

(03:19):
the book, we're focused in onsports health, sports medicine. If you're
a diabetic and you have a littleblood sugar, it's really hard to play
to your highest level as an athlete. So we're building programming for you know,
student athletes and adult athletes to beable to perform at the highest levels
and know how to manage their nutritionin their blood sugar as they as they

(03:39):
do their sport for maternal feudal medicine. How how can women have a healthy
pregnancy as a diabetic because diabetes affectsyour pregnancy. For my mom when I
was born premature, and you know, she lost her vision following her pregnancy
with me for quite a while.So how do we avoid those complications.

(04:01):
We're building programs that'll address that.Another area where we're really focused in on
is those kids who are transitioning,you know, into adulthood. What does
that transition look like where you hadyour family supporting you with your diabetes and
now you're on your own and you'vegot to learn how to manage the disease.
The earlier we can get kids totake really great care of themselves,

(04:25):
you know, the better off theirlong term health will be. So that's
our goal. The medical community,I would guess nationwide or maybe even globally,
would sit up and take notice atthe work you're doing here. Well,
that's what we're hoping. We're reallytrying to build programs that you know,
you can you can replicate in othercommunities and share that knowledge worldwide.

(04:47):
You know, we we want tobe the best in the nation. We
want to be number one, andwe're trying our hardest to get to that
by recruiting physicians to the community,you know, expanding the work force and
the supports that diabetics can have helpingwith their health. And then you know,
just trying to build a world classprogram that anyone would want to be

(05:10):
a part of right here in Louisville. Yeah, where's the program housed now,
It's at Northern Healthcare. We've gotthe adult and pediatric program is spread
throughout the health system, but themain headquarters is at the Novaccenter for Children's

(05:31):
Health. But there's hopes to buildan additional facility in the near future.
Outstanding. Okay, and then yourmom's book is called Diabetes and Me Living
a Healthy and Empowered Life in theFace of Diabetes. This to be a
great encouragement book for someone who hasthis in their universe, someone and their
family, and this I think wouldhelp them obviously enlighten them in some way

(05:56):
to help them deal with the situationbetter. Yeah. She shares her tips
for for how to live with thedisease and also all the proceeds from from
the sale of the book will goto support the Diabees Institute, which is
you know, the core of hermission is to raise awareness for that.
So you know, it's it's agreat it's a great read. It's a

(06:18):
quick story, but it's it's reallyencouraging and shows just her fierce determination.
She's a pretty incredible woman. So, yeah, she grew up here,
did she? She did? Shedid. She played field hockey at Atherton
and you know, she ended upgoing to the University of Missouri. But
she loves Louisville and it's just anhonor to be able to do this in

(06:40):
her hometown. So when she wasat the University of Missouri, did she
meet that that young fellow, DavidNovakim? She sure did. That's that's
where the magic. I'm grateful forthat moment, Terry. Yeah, you
are, because I read I readhis book where he's talking about growing up
and traveling all the time as dad'sa civil engineer and they're roaming around America

(07:01):
in a a Conastoga wagon or somethingrather and then he's so he was his
community changed all the time, right, right, exactly exactly. But it's
nice to put reaches down. That'sright, and that's what your mom did,
and that's how Ashley got here.Yeah, that's right, that's right.
I'm grateful for it. Great talkingto you again. We'll make sure
people are aware of the book andthe institute so that they can check in

(07:26):
and see if they can't better theirown lives. Appreciate you, Ashley,
Thanks so much, Thank you,Ashley Novak Butler. Her mom is Wendy.
Her name is on the Wendy NovakDiabetes Institute. That's the website Wendynovakdiabetes
Institute dot com. There's a lotof great information and helpful tips on that

(07:48):
site. But you can learn moreabout what's happening here in Louisville. And
the book is called Diabetes and Me. It's Wendy, Wendy Novak and Ovak,
And you can just google that andfind all kinds of ways to get
hold of that book, hopefully helpout somebody else who's aligned with that story.
All right, we'll come back ina few You're on NewsRadio eight forty whas