SHAPLEIGH — Caroline Jacobs, 14, of Shapleigh, is one of 150 children throughout the U.S. selected to represent her state on Capitol Hill this summer to remind Congress and the Administration of the critical need to find better treatments and a cure for a disease they live with every day — type 1 diabetes.
Jacobs has been named a delegate representing Maine in the Children’s Congress.
These children — ages four to 17, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia — will converge on Washington, D.C., to talk about the challenges of living with type 1 diabetes to lawmakers during the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) Children’s Congress 2011 from June 20 to 22. Joining these children in Washington, D.C. will be seven international delegates traveling from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The international delegates will partner with U.S. delegates to convey a clear message to the U.S. government that diabetes is a global problem that requires a global effort.
The event, held every other summer, will be led by JDRF’s international chairman, Mary Tyler Moore, and will include Congressional visits by the child delegates and a Senate hearing during which Moore, select delegates, researchers, and community leaders will testify on the need for continued funding for type 1 diabetes research, under the theme of “Promise to Remember Me.”
“All of the children and their families can confirm with me that type 1 diabetes tests our will and determination to live a normal life,” said Moore, who has had type 1 diabetes for about 40 years. “With JDRF’s Children’s Congress, we are able to put faces to a disease that places an enormous toll on our nation. It is also a reminder for Congress that their partnership in the fight to find better treatments and a cure for type 1 diabetes is essential and has helped to drive research progress to date.”
Jacobs, who was selected to Children’s Congress through JDRF’s New England Chapter, was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 10 years old. The day-to-day fight to stay alive is a struggle for her and her family.
This year’s chair of JDRF’s Children’s Congress is Stefany Shaheen, the daughter of New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen. As chair for Children’s Congress 2011, Shaheen and her daughter, Ellen, who has type 1 diabetes, will help rally the delegates and their families in their advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill.
“We are honored and excited to fill the role of Chair Family for Children’s Congress 2011. Our family understands what a huge impact this campaign plays in ensuring a strong public-private partnership to cure, treat, and prevent type 1 diabetes,” Shaheen said. “This year’s delegates are an extraordinary group. Their testimonies will help all members of Congress understand that they need to ‘Promise to Remember’ the children and families affected by this disease.”
Children were selected by a volunteer-led committee, and represent communities from across the nation.
“The overwhelming number of applicants we continually get for Children’s Congress speaks to the event’s importance for so many children living with type 1 diabetes,” Shaheen said. “Choosing 150 delegates from the pool of over 1,200 applicants for this year’s Children’s Congress was a difficult and challenging process. All 1,200 who applied would have served this role well.”
To learn more about JDRF’s Children’s Congress, please visit the Children’s Congress website at http://cc.jdrf.org/.
Started in 1999, Children’s Congress has become the largest media and grassroots advocacy event held in support of finding better treatments and a cure for type 1 diabetes. The newly-selected delegates will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors in raising national awareness for type 1 diabetes and participating in personal advocacy at the highest level of the United States government.
As many as 3 million Americans may have type 1 diabetes. Each year, more than 15,000 children and 15,000 adults — approximately 80 people per day — are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the U.S.
JDRF is the worldwide leader for research to cure type 1 diabetes. It sets the global agenda for diabetes research, and is the largest charitable funder and advocate of diabetes science worldwide.
The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that strikes children and adults suddenly, and can be fatal. Until a cure is found, people with type 1 diabetes have to test their blood sugar and give themselves insulin injections multiple times or use a pump — each day, every day of their lives. And even with that intensive care, insulin is not a cure for diabetes, nor does it prevent its potential complications, which may include kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, stroke, and amputation.
Since its founding in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, JDRF has awarded more than $1.5 billion to diabetes research, including $107 million last year. More than 80 percent of JDRF’s expenditures directly support research and research-related education.
For more information, please visit www.jdrf.org.
