Thank you JDRF for this amazing opportunity to help. What an honor to be your Gala Chair!!! We are thrilled to be part of this incredible foundation. On April 2017 our middle daughter Emma was diagnosed with Type 1.

The same week that she had turned 13 with a big fun birthday party for her friends, she ended up in the ICU fighting for her life from severe Ketoacidosis. Perfectly recovered now and still a perfectly typical teen, Emma is managing her diabetes well a little over a year later.  Not without some setbacks though, which is why we are so passionate about helping JDRF. The support we received from them during Emma’s diagnosis and after, all the work they do is truly inspiring and we couldn’t be happier to help in any way we can.

Katerina Jokinen is the wife of former Florida Panthers Captain and all time leading scorer Olli Jokinen and mom to 3 girls, Alex, Emma and Keira, also owner of KORRES Finland natural products for over 10 years in Finland. During their 17 years in the NHL with various teams and cities, Olli and Katerina have been involved in many foundations and philanthropic fundraising efforts. After Olli’s retirement, they have now settled back to their home in Parkland where Olli runs South Florida Hockey Academy youth program.