WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown met this week with Jackson Tyler Wagener of Rossford. Jackson is one of Ohio’s Delegates to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) 2015 Children’s Congress.
“Young Ohioans like Jackson 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.”
Jackson already has plenty of experience spreading the word about T1D awareness. He has recently served as JDRF Northwest Ohio’s Youth Ambassador, as well as his local JDRF Walk Grand
Marshall. He also gives speeches on behalf of JDRF to encourage people to donate. But sometimes his efforts are just ordinary conversations. “I try to educate anyone that will listen to me about T1D,” he says. “It makes me sad knowing that there are tons of people just like me out there living their lives one shot of insulin at a time.” Jackson enjoys archery, and when he grows up he would like to either help research a cure for T1D as a doctor, or, if a cure has already been found, work for the FBI.
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.
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