Congenital Hyperinsulinism International’s (CHI) annual Sugar Soirée once again united supporters in celebrating the congenital hyperinsulinism (HI) community and raised funds to improve the lives of children and adults born with this rare condition.
The 11th Annual Sugar Soirée was held on the evening of September 28 at the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, New Jersey. Built in 1914, the Montclair Art Museum is an architecturally stunning heritage building that entices visitors with its portico and neo-classical columns. The museum’s Native American and American art collection is one of the most comprehensive in the region. The event included a private viewing of the esteemed collection.
View a PDF of the 2024 Sugar Soirée Program here.
Please enjoy our slideshow of highlights from the event; make sure to scroll down below for more info about the 2024 Sugar Soirée.
Our 2024 Sugar Soirée host for the evening was Cheri Preston. Cheri is an award-winning broadcaster who anchors Morning Drive ABC News top-and-bottom-of-the-hour updates for radio stations and podcast listeners nationwide. A breaking news veteran, Cheri has been behind the microphone for some of the biggest stories of the past several decades, including 9/11, Superstorm Sandy, the capture of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, the wedding of Prince Harry, the Sandy Hook shootings, and of course, the incredible political and social upheaval of the past eight years. Cheri is the former host of the weekly ABC News podcast and radio news magazine “Perspective,” and had calculated that over the past 23 years, she has told her listeners what was happening in the world more than 68,000 times. In addition to her on-air duties, Cheri also serves on the National and New York Boards of SAG-AFTRA—the union representing 160,000 media professionals worldwide—and as chair of the SAG-AFTRA National Broadcast Steering Committee. She was thrilled to have hosted the CHI Sugar Soirée for the second year.
CHI was honored to welcome Jilani Huffman as our special guest speaker for the evening. Jilani was born in 2013 with diffuse HI. Her treatment included a 98% pancreatectomy (surgical removal of her pancreas), which caused post-pancreatectomy diabetes. At our Family Conference with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in 2023, Jilani took to the stage at just ten years old to share her HI and diabetes management story and words of encouragement to other young people with HI and their families. Jilani’s profound understanding of how HI impacts her life and her active role in managing her medical care empowered her to achieve what once seemed impossible without supervision. She bikes to school, spends time with friends, and attends in-person classes independently. Always positive, Jilani encourages us to practice gratitude and look forward to the future. We were proud to share her invaluable perspective as a young person with HI with our Sugar Soirée guests.
The 2024 Be My Sugar Awardees
We were thrilled to honor three individuals with our Be My Sugar awards this year. The Be My Sugar Sweetest Supporter Award was given to Sally Bliumis-Dunn. Sally has been an ardent supporter of CHI even before it became a nonprofit with official status. She was a fantastic helpmate at the first CHI Family Conference in Philadelphia in 2003, where she led the children in a poetry workshop. She made the production of the first CHI video possible, based on the inaugural 2003 family conference, and has been a crucial helpmate ever since. Sally supported and attended all ten prior Sugar Soirées with great enthusiasm. Through a family foundation, Sally has made meaningful contributions to CHI every single year of CHI’s existence. In her professional life, Sally is a prize-winning poet who publishes regularly in journals and has written four books collecting her poems. She is also a feature writer for Plume Magazine. Sally is always ready to lend a hand with proofreading or wordsmithing and is a wonderful moral support to the community.
The Be My Sugar Extraordinary Nurse Award was given to Clare Gilbert. Clare is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in hypoglycemia and HI within the endocrinology team at Great Ormond Street (GOSH) in London. GOSH is one of eight CHI Centers of Excellence in the world. Clare first came to GOSH in 1998 as a ward nurse and found her passion in caring for infants and children with HI. She subsequently assisted in setting up the first NHS England-commissioned center for this disorder in the UK. In addition to being a lead member of the GOSH clinical team, Clare is on the faculty of CHI family conferences year after year. She has given many important presentations, and her compassion and knowledge are always in full force. She is completely present and thoughtful in sharing her expertise and eased the minds of worried HI families. Clare is also a key member of the CHI Collaborative Research Network and has made important contributions to a variety of its research and advocacy projects.
The Be My Sugar Lifetime Achievement Award went to Mark Sperling. Mark received this award for his research and clinical work serving people living with congenital hyperinsulinism. Mark has had a tremendous career as a professor, clinician, and author. An expert in pediatric endocrinology, he has authored countless articles and chapters on neonatal hypoglycemia. With his stature in the field, he has helped to elevate the topic, which is so vital to the well-being of people born with the condition. He also publishes the Sperling Pediatric Endocrinology Book, which has educated many on neonatal hypoglycemia. He was one of the authors of the PES 2015 hypoglycemia guidelines, which are of monumental importance in raising awareness of the need to find and treat those with neonatal hypoglycemia before a brain injury occurs. He never stops. Even in his career as an emeritus professor, he finds time to be a member of the CHI Scientific Advisory Board.
Jilani Huffman: 2024 Sugar Soirée Guest Speaker:
Sally Bliumis-Dunn: The Be My Sugar Sweetest Supporter Awardee:
Two of our awardees – Clare Gilbert, RN and Dr. Mark Sperling – were unfortunately unable to attend the Sugar Soirée this year. In lieu of their acceptance speeches for the evening, Clare and Mark opted to record a video with ABC news anchor and our host Cheri Preston to describe a bit about their careers.
Watch Clare Gilbert, RN’s full interview and acceptance speech:
We have the shorter version played at the Soirée available here:
Watch Dr. Mark Sperling’s full interview and acceptance speech:
We have the shorter version played at the Soirée available here:
