When I was first diagnosed with Type One Diabetes in June of 2021, there was only one person I had in mind to create the face and image that would represent our Jim’s Team 4 Diabetes Foundation. That was Kayley Shade from Hartford, SD.

She is one of the most amazing and determined human beings I have ever met and someone I was blessed and fortunate to have worked closely with at the Sioux Falls Storm (2015-2018), a South Dakota based sports franchise and member of the Indoor (Pro) Football League.

At the time Kayley was rising up the ranks with the club from a devoted game day intern up to becoming the team’s Director of Social Media. During the time she and I were together with the Storm, Kayley was actually taking classes at Southeast Technical Institute in Sioux Falls and would graduate with degrees in Marketing and Marketing Design.

Soon thereafter, Kayley would begin creating logos for many of the Storm’s community projects that we were organizing for the club. She immediately had the gift for graphic design and would quickly become our internal logo designer! Kayley’s work and talents were so obvious and would actually help the club secure corporate sponsorships because of the beauty and quality of her designs!

The logo you now see representing the face of the Jim’s Team 4 Diabetes Foundation was all done in one complete sketch by Kayley. What made her work so remarkable, was that we never felt the need to ask for a second sketch or even an alteration? She simply ACED our logo design just as she always did for me with the Storm!

The other part of Kayley’s story that makes her such a unique human being is to see all that she has accomplished and the way she approaches life everyday despite her day-to-day difficulties in dealing with a health condition known as SMA. Kayley was first diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at 16 months of age. She has never once let her disability get in the way of achieving her Dreams!

THANK YOU Kayley from the Jim’s Team 4 Diabetes Foundation!