Bakersfield Teenager Selected For Children’s Congress
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — This past weekend, kids from all over the United States headed to Washington, D.C., to be a part of Children’s Congress. The event allows kids to talk with lawmakers about funding research for Type 1 diabetes.
Bakersfield’s Jeff Miller, 17, was one of those selected to go. Miller is like your average teenager, except there’s one thing that separates him from many of his peers.
“My insulin pump is like an IV,” Miller said as he showed off his pump. “It feeds insulin through this wire and into my body.”
Just five years ago, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” said Miller. “I was scared, and I didn’t know what was going to come next.”
Now, he has a very different mentality– one that has made him a delegate for the 2011 Children’s Congress.
“(There are) 150 kids selected to come to Congress to actually lobby with their congressional representatives about funding for the national health institute bill and funding to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes,” said Allison Perkins-Thomas, from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Central Valley.
Miller is the first delegate selection from Bakersfield in eight years.
“I’m nervous,” Miller said before he left. “Hopefully I’ll get to meet the president, if I’m lucky. Hopefully I’ll get to have some good conversations with my congressman.”
It’s not just juvenile diabetes research that will benefit, but also the kids themselves.
“As future citizens of the world, they are going to be our future voters, and by influencing our lawmakers, it says they count,” said Perkins-Thomas. “Their voice counts.”
For Miller, the trip is a step in the right direction for himself and the millions of others waiting for a cure.
“I’m very excited,” said Miller. “They’re making a lot of progress in research, and with a little more effort, we can definitely find a cure.”
Miller will be in Washington D.C., until Wednesday.
