Jack Terschluse of Chesterfield is one of 150 children in the
U.S. who were selected to go to Capitol Hill this summer on behalf
of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Terschluse, 17, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of
11. Today, he is a junior at Chaminade College Preparatory School
and enjoys swimming and water polo. He volunteers with the diabetes
foundation and at the St. Louis Food Bank. He also is a pen-pal and
mentor for children in India with type 1 diabetes.
“A cure for diabetes would mean so much to me and other young
people,” he said. “I’m active in sports, and I always have to check
my blood sugar. There is the possibility that I’d have to leave the
pool or a game if my glucose level is either too high or too low,
or if ketones are present. Having diabetes is a 24/7 disease.”
Terschluse and the other children, ages 4 to 17, will go to
Washington, D.C., to talk about the challenges of living with type
1 diabetes to lawmakers during the Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation’s Children’s Congress 2011, from June 20-22.
