WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown met this week with Isabella Quinn Dooley of Macedonia. Isabella is one of Ohio’s Delegates to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) 2015 Children’s Congress.

“Young Ohioans like Isabella show great resilience and bravery in sharing their story to help spur support for research into juvenile diabetes,” said Brown. “Funding for research on juvenile diabetes has the ability to change lives and improve the health of future generations. I’ll continue pushing for greater medical research in this field for patients so they can grow and lead healthy lives.”

Isabella is a triplet. The only one in her family with T1D, Isabella’s family says that her “diagnosis has given our family something to be passionate about: finding a cure. We know that the work we are doing to raise awareness is not in vain and that it will make a difference. We are hopeful for the day when Type One becomes Type None.” In the meantime, Isabella stays busy raising money (last year her JDRF Walk team boasted 110 members — the largest team in Cleveland!), sharing her journey through social media, and appearing in local news to spread the T1D message. In her spare time, Isabella loves painting, soccer, gymnastics, singing, karate (she just earned a yellow belt) and playing with her sister and brother.

The JDRF Children’s Congress gives children and teens with juvenile diabetes the opportunity to share their story with Members of Congress and urge them to support funding for research. The delegates were in Washington, D.C. to advocate for continued research funding for type 1 diabetes (TID), an autoimmune disease in which an individual’s pancreas cannot produce insulin. They also visited to promote the Medicare CGM Access Act of 2015, which Brown has cosponsored, to ensure that Medicare covers continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices for those who need them.

 

###