Riding for a Cure Of Type 1 Diabetes

by Charles McGuigan 07.2026

Shortly after Mary Kate McAleer celebrated her first double-digit year, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. That was seventeen years ago and today, Mary Kate works as a registered nurse, easing the pain of others, taking care of folks with severe disabilities.

For years now, medical researchers have worked tirelessly to find a cure for this debilitating disease. But under the current administration’s dramatic cuts to both the National Institute of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there is concern that this research might be threatened.

“These unprecedented reductions in funding would decimate our nation’s research and public health infrastructure and undermine decades of progress and science to address and curtail diabetes,” according to the American Diabetes Association. “These cuts undercut extensive and long-standing research studies to improve diabetes treatment, and potentially derail an imminent type 1 diabetes cure.”

But there are organizations that are combating these cuts by funding research projects that may eventually lead to a cure. One such group is Breakthrough T1D.

Not long ago, Mary Kate’s father, Pat McAleer, a local financial advisor on the cusp of retirement who happens to be an avid cyclist, decided to raise money for Breakthrough T1D by pedaling across the entire country. He began his journey on July 15 along the rugged Pacific coast. The starting point was La Push, Washington and he will follow a northern course with stops in Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago, and many other cities and towns along the way before ending his trek October 11 along the wide, sandy shores of the Atlantic at Virginia Beach. In all he will have logged more than 5,000 miles.

“We've always been involved with Breakthrough T1D,” says Pat McAleer. “And I've been on the board of that organization. I have organized walks. Breakthrough is focused only on type 1 diabetes, in three pieces: cure, prevention, and treatment.”

Some people in leadership positions do not seem to understand the very nature of this disease. The current Secretary of Health and Human Services, for instance, often conflates type 1 with type 2 diabetes. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“One of the things so many people are confused about is that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease,” Pat says. “It's got nothing to do with lifestyle like type 2 diabetes. They're just two entirely different diseases.”

He remembers his daughter when she was very young. “Mary Kate was healthy and athletic,” he says. “And then she just ended up having an autoimmune disease, where her body said, ‘All right, we're going to f***ing kill your pancreas.’”

After a long pause, Pat continues, “I get choked up when I think about all she's been through. And I think, Charles, part of her experience of being in hospitals and being cared for has shaped part of who she is now where she cares for other people in a way that's just remarkable.”

Throughout his long, two-wheeled crawl across the continent, he’ll camp out when necessary, stay in hotels, but he’ll also sleep over in some people’s homes. “I'm also going to stay with some type 1 diabetes families that are going to host me,” says Pat. “I’ll be staying with people that I haven't even met yet, but people I share a bond with.”

You’ll be able to track his journey every mile of the way by visiting his website, https://www.ridepatride.org/  That’s where you can also make donations for this fundraiser. The base goal is $250,000, but ideally, they would like to raise twice that amount. Good news—they’ve already raised more than $90,000.

“It's turned into this snowball thing and I'm trying to get as much exposure as early on as possible so that people can follow my trip and go to our website to engage,” Pat McAleer says.

And, of course, to make donations that will help researchers eventually cure type 1 diabetes.