CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 A Corpus Christi couple who has spent months getting Type 1 diabetes Barbie dolls into the hands of children living with the disease say they’ve hit a major breakthrough of their own.<\/p>\n
John and Cheryl Navar, who run the Breakthrough Barbie Bonanza<\/a>, announced this week that they’ve connected with a Mattel distributor who has up to 10,000 of the dolls available at $11.50 each. The couple has launched a GoFundMe campaign<\/a> to fund the purchase and distribution.<\/p>\n KRIS 6 first introduced viewers to the Navars last October<\/a>, when John launched a campaign to collect the dolls for young patients at Driscoll Children’s Hospital, where Cheryl works as a pediatric diabetic educator.<\/p>\n The dolls \u2014 part of Mattel’s Fashionistas line \u2014 feature a continuous glucose monitor and insulin pump, the same devices many children with Type 1 diabetes wear every day.<\/p>\n What started with a social media post and a living room full of donated Barbies quickly grew. By the time the couple delivered their first 100 dolls to Driscoll Children’s Hospital<\/a>, the community had already donated more than $15,000.<\/p>\n John Navar recalled watching a 3-year-old who had just been diagnosed receive one of the dolls that day.<\/p>\n “Seeing the overwhelming look of joy on her face. At three years old, she just sat staring at this doll for like five minutes as we watched,” Navar told KRIS 6 at the time.<\/p>\n The effort expanded to children’s hospitals in six states<\/a> by November, when the Navars showed up to a local Type 1 diabetes Friendsgiving event dressed as Barbie and Ken \u2014 arriving in a donated pink Hummer loaded with dolls.<\/p>\n Since then, the couple said they have purchased and distributed more than 2,500 dolls to pediatric diabetes programs nationwide. But finding enough inventory became their biggest obstacle \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n Those who want to help can visit the couple’s GoFundMe page<\/a> or follow their progress on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n For the latest local news updates, click here<\/a>, or download the KRIS 6 News App.<\/a><\/p>\n Catch all the KRIS 6 News stories and more on our YouTube page<\/a>. Subscribe today!<\/p>\n