Laramie Boy Chosen to Speak to Congress

Calvin Webb, a 12-year-old-boy from Laramie, has been selected as the lone delegate from Wyoming to remind members of Congress about Type 1 Diabetes research.

Webb was selected by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to join 150 children from all fifty states, including four from Colorado, to address congress.  Webb says that he was chosen because of an essay he had submitted to the JDRF about living with Type 1 Diabetes.

"I'm going to go speak to Congress about the importance of continuing support and funding for special diabetes programs," Webb says.  "Which helps find new treatments and, hopefully soon, a cure for diabetes."

The children joining Webb for the JDRF 2013 Children's Crongress range in age from 4 to 17 and represent all fifty states and the District of Columbia.  Further six international delegates will partner with the U.S. delegates to bring the message of a global problem requiring global effort.

The event is held every other summer and will be led by JDRF International Chairperson Mary Tyler Moore.  At a Senate hearing, Ms. Moore and select delegates and advocates will testify to the need for continued funding for Type 1 Diabetes.

Webb will also get one-on-one time with Wyoming's own congressional representatives.  "We have meetings with them,"  Webb says.  "We had to make scrapbooks for our senators and our congresswoman."  He goes on to describe the scrapbook as pictures of him living with Type 1 Diabetes.  Doing things like camping, fishing, and playing sports but also checking his blood-sugar levels.  "Right now I'm doing baseball, after that I'll do football.  I also do wrestling."

JDRF Rocky Mountain Chapter Director, Robert Garelick, says that watching children and young adults, afflicted with diabetes, participating in the democratic process is a sight to behold.  "These delegates will help educate our politicians,"  Garelick says.  "Hopefully through those efforts, help increase research funding, save healthcare costs and bring an end to Type 1 Diabetes."

The JDRF Children's Congress will take place July 8th through the 10th.