Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation News
Youth Type I Diabetes Patients to Represent California on Capitol Hill for Diabetes Research Funding
LOS ANGELES, May 25 PRNewswire — To help bring attention to the day-to-day fight they and their families face in keeping healthy with Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, Jordan Ellman, 12, Hannah Zeile, 9, and Kaden Kessel, 7, attended last night's 4th Annual "Finding a Cure" Gala, benefiting diabetes research. The gala was hosted by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the world's largest charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research.
This summer, Jordan, Hannah and Kaden will also be three of the 150 children throughout the U.S. who were selected to represent their state (California) on Capitol Hill to remind Congress and the Administration of the critical need for more advanced diabetes therapy like the insulin pump/continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system. Kaden, who wears a Paradigm REAL-Time CGM System, is able to manage his diabetes with the most state-of-the-art technology. However, many children/families are not able to do the same as they face one of the most significant barriers to access of CGM therapy-health insurance coverage.
"Perfecting a closed loop artificial pancreas" is one of JDRF's therapeutic goals and the JDRF has launched an initiative to help accelerate the availability of an artificial pancreas to people with type 1 diabetes. With help from Medtronic Diabetes, a sponsor of the JDRF gala and supporter of JDRF's campaign to speed regulatory approval and obtain health insurance coverage of artificial pancreas technologies, such as insulin pumps and CGM systems, a cure for diabetes may be become a reality for kids like Jordan, Hannah and Kaden.
Additional information
Jordan was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 4 years old; Kaden when he was 2 years old; and Hannah was just 18 months old. Today, they all use an insulin pump from Medtronic Diabetes, based in Northridge and a sponsor of the JDRF gala, to help them manage their disease. An insulin pump is a small device that delivers insulin continuously to the body and because the therapy is based on what their bodies do naturally, Jordan, Hannah, Kaden and their families can manage the diabetes with piece of mind.
Hannah is the daughter of Todd Zeile, a 16-year Major League Baseball veteran and Julianne McNamara, a two time Olympian.
Jordan educates newly diagnosed children and participates in the JDRF "Bags of Hope" program, a free public outreach program that delivers a care package of information to help families learn more about diabetes, diabetes research and the management and control of this disease.
SOURCE Medtronic Diabetes
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