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THE JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION

AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: A MODEL

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP ACCELERATING

RESEARCH TOWARD A CURE

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

JUNE 19, 2007

Available via http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

(

(II)

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

BARACK OBAMA, Illinois 

CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

AARON M. FIROVED, AAAS Fellow 

PURVA H. RAWAL, PH.D., Legislative Assistant, Office of Senator Lieberman 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

PRISCILLA H. HANLEY, Minority Professional Staff Member 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statements: Page 

Senator Collins ................................................................................................. 2

Senator Lieberman ........................................................................................... 3

Senator Akaka .................................................................................................. 6

Senator Tester .................................................................................................. 7

Prepared statement: 

Senator Levin .................................................................................................... 15

WITNESSES

TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2007

Mary Tyler Moore, International Chairman, Juvenile Diabetes Research 

Foundation ............................................................................................................ 9

Adam Morrison, National Basketball Association Player, Charlotte Bobcats .... 11

Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P., Director, National Institute of Diabetes 

and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services ...................................................... 13

Caroline McEnery, Delegate, Age 17, JDRF Children’s Congress, Fairfield, 

Connecticut ........................................................................................................... 18

Caitlin Crawford, Delegate, Age 13, JDRF Children’s Congress, Yarmouth, 

Maine .................................................................................................................... 20

Tre ́ Hawkins, Delegate, Age 12, JDRF Children’s Congress, Detroit, Michigan ......................................................................................................................... 22

Ann Strader, Mother of Abraham and Curtis Strader, Delegates, Age 6, 

JDRF Children’s Congress, Lakeville, Minnesota ............................................. 23

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Crawford, Caitlin: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 20

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 53

Hawkins, Tre ́: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 22

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 55

McEnery, Caroline: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 18

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 51

Moore, Mary Tyler: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 9

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 32

Morrison, Adam: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 11

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 35

Rodgers, Griffin P., M.D., M.A.C.P.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 13

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 37

Strader, Ann: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 23

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 56

APPENDIX

Updated photo of device (pump and sensor) submitted by Medtronic, Inc. ........ 29

Chart titled ‘‘Type 1 Diabetes: A Slowly Progressive Autoimmune Illness,’’ 

submitted by Dr. Rodgers .................................................................................... 30

Photo titled ‘‘Continuous Glucose Monitoring,’’ submitted by Dr. Rodgers ........ 31

Questions and responses for the Record from Dr. Rodgers .................................. 59

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THE JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: 

A MODEL PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP 

ACCELERATING RESEARCH TOWARD A CURE 

TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2007

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in room 

SD–106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Joseph I. Lieberman, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Lieberman, Levin, Akaka, Tester, and Collins. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Good morning. 

Well, I must say, of all the hearings that I have had the honor 

to convene, this is the most beautiful group of people in front of me 

that I have ever seen. So welcome this morning. 

I am Senator Joe Lieberman, and it is my honor to be the Chairman of this Committee this year. I want to welcome our witnesses 

to this hearing of the fifth Children’s Congress organized by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. 

Senator Susan Collins is the Ranking Member of this Committee. 

For years, she was the Chairman, and as we said, in the roll of the 

dice or the twist of fate or whatever it is, it turned out that I have 

the title of Chairman this year, but nothing has changed in our 

partnership in this Committee other than our titles. She is an extraordinary person, and I am really honored to work with her. 

Senator Collins has taken a particular interest in juvenile diabetes and chaired four similar hearings that have focused on breakthroughs in research, the partnership between the JDRF and the 

National Institutes of Health, and the challenges in developing effective treatments and a cure for juvenile diabetes. 

First off, I do want to say before I turn the gavel over to her that 

I am very sorry that she got the memo that we were supposed to 

wear yellow today. [Laughter.] 

And I didn’t get it, but there is a very little bit of yellow in my 

multi-colored tie. 

Anyway, to recognize and really honor Senator Collins’ superb 

and important leadership on this important public health challenge, I am going to turn the gavel over to her. I look forward to 

her opening statement. If she so chooses with the gavel in her 

hand, I will then make an opening statement. But then she will 

Chair the hearing. Senator Collins. 

2

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR COLLINS 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you very much, Senator Lieberman. It 

is really nice to have the gavel back, even if it is just for this one 

hearing. But it is typically gracious of you that when I asked you 

if I could Chair today in view of my longstanding interest in this 

issue, you didn’t hesitate. You immediately acceded to my request, 

and I am very grateful for that. 

As you mentioned, this is the fourth Juvenile Diabetes Research 

Foundation Children’s Congress that I have had the honor to 

Chair, and I am very grateful for your leadership, as well. I know 

that there is a delegate from Connecticut here today. 

I also want to welcome all of our distinguished witnesses, but 

most of all, I want to welcome all the children who have joined us 

today. 

It is just wonderful to have you here. Now, have any of you been 

to Washington before? A few of you have—quite a few of you have. 

Well, then you know it is very unusual for us to have children come 

to our hearings, much less testify. But it is important that children 

are here from all over the country and indeed around the world to 

tell Congress just what it is like to have diabetes, how serious it 

is, and how important it is that we fund the research necessary to 

find a cure. 

I want to give a special welcome to the delegate from Maine, 13-

year-old Caitlin Crawford, who will be testifying on the second 

panel today. 

As the founder and the Co-Chair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus, 

I have learned a lot about the disease and the difficulties and the 

heartbreak that it causes for so many American families as you 

await a cure. Diabetes is a lifelong condition that affects people of 

every age, race, and nationality. It is the leading cause of kidney 

failure, blindness in adults, and amputations not related to injury. 

Moreover, it is estimated that diabetes accounts for more than 

$132 billion of our Nation’s annual health care costs and that 

health spending for people with diabetes is almost double what it 

would be if they did not have diabetes. 

These statistics are truly overwhelming, but what really motivates me to devote so much energy to this issue is meeting more 

and more people like our delegates today and their families whose 

lives have been changed forever by diabetes, and that is why it so 

important that you have all traveled here to tell your stories. You 

put human faces on all of those statistics. You can teach us what 

Congress can do to help us better understand and ultimately conquer this terrible disease. 

The burden of diabetes is particularly heavy for children and 

young adults with type 1, or juvenile diabetes. It is the second most 

common chronic disease affecting children. Moreover, it is one that 

you never outgrow. 

People ask me all the time why I am so interested in juvenile diabetes. They ask, do I have a family member who is afflicted with 

it, and I do not. What got me interested was a meeting that I had 

when I became a new Senator back in 1997 with JDRF members 

in Maine. They came into my office, and I will never forget this 10-

year-old boy who told me that all he wanted was to take one day 

off from his diabetes. 

3

But I realize that even if it is your birthday, or Christmas, or another holiday, you can’t take a day off from diabetes, and the average child with diabetes will have to take more than 50,000 insulin 

shots in a lifetime. 

While the discovery of insulin was a landmark breakthrough in 

the treatment of diabetes, it is not a cure. Thankfully, there is 

much good news for us to report today. Since I founded the Senate 

Diabetes Caucus in 1997, funding for diabetes research has more 

than tripled, so it is now up to about $1 billion. As a consequence, 

we have seen some encouraging breakthroughs, and we are on the 

threshold of a number of important new discoveries, as Mary Tyler 

Moore and I were discussing briefly this morning. 

For example, a new drug that has been tested in clinical trials 

has been shown to have the possibility of stabilizing or even reversing the progression of type 1 diabetes, demonstrating for the first 

time that the clinical course of the disease can be altered. 

Advances in technology, like continuous glucose sensors, are 

helping people better control their blood glucose levels, and that is 

key to preventing diabetes complications. These advances are also 

moving us closer to the long-term goal of an artificial pancreas, and 

drugs originally designed for cancer therapy are showing tremendous potential for treating diabetic eye disease. 

Now, we are making progress, but now is no time to take our foot 

off the accelerator. We basically have two choices. We can sit back 

and continue to pay the bills and endure the suffering, or we can 

aggressively pursue a national strategy aimed at curing this terrible disease. 

In August 2006, the National Institutes of Health released a report called ‘‘Advances and Emerging Opportunities in Type 1 Diabetes Research: A Strategic Plan.’’ It charts a course that we must 

take. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has brought together leading researchers and economists who estimate just how 

much it would cost to fully fund the research opportunities identified in this landmark report. The estimate is that it would cost approximately $557 million in 2009, rising to about $1.2 billion in 

2013. Clearly, we have our work cut out for us, but we can do it. 

The good news is that there is strong support in Congress for increasing funding for diabetes research, including Senator Lieberman’s strong support. Last month, 64 senators joined me in sending a letter to the Senate leadership urging increased funding for 

type 1 diabetes to accelerate our race to a cure. 

And I am hopeful that this morning’s hearing, plus all of the visits that you are doing with senators all over the Hill, will help to 

build on that support and give us the momentum we need for increased research funding to find better treatments, a means of prevention, and, yes, ultimately, a cure. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am delighted to call on you for your 

statement. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN LIEBERMAN 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Well, thank you, Madam Chairman, for 

that excellent statement. 

Let me welcome everyone here and particularly give a special 

welcome to Caroline McEnery from my home State of Connecticut, 

4

who is going to share her story with us today. Also, her fellow 

nutmeggers, which is what we call people from Connecticut—it is 

too long a story to tell. [Laughter.] 

Or maybe the more familiar today—if you follow UConn men or 

women’s basketball—we say fellow Huskies Aiden Falla, Amanda 

Rossi, and Sedrick Trotman, with whom I look forward to meeting 

after this hearing. 

And let me just add an exclamation point to what Senator Collins has said to thank you for coming and to tell each of you, particularly the children here, you will be amazed at how important 

it is that you and your families have taken the time to be here because in your meetings with individual senators and members of 

the House of Representatives, you will educate, you will motivate, 

and you will move us to getting the things done that we want to 

get done. 

Probably you have all heard the story of the discovery of insulin, 

but there are parts of it that I love to tell, and I tell it because it 

is a hopeful story. Obviously, before that, diabetes really was a 

dreadful disease. In the winter of 1921—that is a long time ago in 

a child’s life, but in the span of history, when we think of how long 

people have had diabetes, it is fairly recent—1921, following 

months of experiments and tests, a doctor from Canada, right to 

the north of us, Frederick Banting, and a team of researchers announced that they had successfully lowered the blood sugar in dogs 

that had diabetes that they were experimenting with and that led 

to the new—that was their breakthrough of insulin therapy. The 

news flashed around the world, not as quickly as it does today 

through the Internet, but it went around the world, bringing hope 

to millions. 

And it is a wonderful story that in an extraordinary display of 

compassion, the Banting research team walked away from the fortune, the monetary fortune their discovery would have earned them 

selling the production rights to insulin for a mere dollar. 

The idea that led to the discovery of insulin—this will be an interesting little story for you and your parents, I hope—occurred to 

Dr. Banting as he was getting ready for bed one night following a 

long day’s work on unrelated research, unrelated to the problem of 

diabetes. Eventually, he won a Nobel Prize for his discovery because that night, he scribbled the idea that he had before he went 

to bed into his notebook which he kept by the side of his bed. So 

keep a notebook by the side of your bed, kids, for those big ideas. 

And later, he would say—this is particularly important for those of 

us who are senators to hear—no one has ever had a really great 

idea while wearing a suit. [Laughter.] 

I don’t know, we may have to consider—all right. 

So obviously, since the discovery of insulin, we have made extraordinary progress, as Senator Collins described, in managing diabetes. But when it comes to children’s diabetes, obviously, our understanding of the cause and the cure is not yet within our grasp, 

though I would say, based on the tremendous advance of medical 

science, that it is definitely within our reach, and Dr. Banting’s 

late-night revelation should really fill us with hope that there are 

researchers out there today, tonight, who are going to have similar 

discoveries that will advance the cause. 

5

That is why it is so important to support the work of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The numbers speak for themselves. I am just going to mention these numbers to talk about the 

societal significance here. Nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes, and about 1.5 million new cases are diagnosed each year. The 

remarkable story in response is that over the last three decades, 

JDRF has raised and provided more than $1 billion for juvenile diabetes research, and there is a great partnership between JDRF 

and NIH in moving this research forward. The bottom line here is 

we have come a long way, but we have a long way to go, and that 

is why your presence here today is so important. 

When I come to a subject like this and I think of Dr. Banting 

and all the advances in the treatment and managing of diabetes 

that Senator Collins referred to, I think of this. There are a lot of 

reasons, I suppose, people have in the world today for being upset 

or depressed, but a lot of those unfortunately are true, world 

events, I mean. But when you look at the incredible advances in 

technology and medical science and you think of the things that 

you are going to see during your lifetime, that I have seen in my 

lifetime that I never would have dreamed—I am still kind of 

amazed that I can pick up this little piece of plastic and send an 

e-mail to somebody halfway around the world and hear back in 

about four seconds, not to mention the extraordinary advances in 

treating and curing diseases that people never dreamed would be 

so well treated and cured. 

So let us go forward, understanding that JDRF does tremendous 

work. NIH has done tremendous work. They have been flat-funded 

lately overall, and that is not good. So a lot of us, Senator Collins, 

Senator Akaka, and I are going to be working to increase funding, 

particularly for juvenile diabetes research. 

I know you will inform us. I know you will leave us with hope, 

and I hope you leave here with even more hope than you came 

with. 

Thank you very much, Senator Collins. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you, Senator. 

I want to thank Senator Akaka and Senator Tester for joining us 

also today. 

Leading off our first panel this morning, I am pleased to welcome 

once again Mary Tyler Moore to the Committee. She is very well 

known for her work in film and television, but she is well known 

to anyone whose life has been touched by diabetes for serving as 

the International Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research 

Foundation. It has been my great pleasure to work very closely 

with her over the years. I admire her advocacy enormously, and we 

have a shared goal of finding a cure for this devastating disease. 

So Ms. Moore, it is a great honor to welcome you back today. 

Next, we are going to hear from Adam Morrison, an all-American 

basketball player in college. Adam now plays for the Charlotte Bobcats and this past season finished second in scoring among all NBA 

rookies. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 14, 

and he is going to tell us about the special challenges he faces as 

he continues managing his diabetes while pursuing a successful 

professional basketball career. And I know that the children here 

6

are going to be really interested because they are very active in 

sports, as well. 

And last but certainly not least, we will hear from Dr. Griffin 

Rodgers, who is the Director of the National Institute of Diabetes 

and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the NIH. Dr. Rodgers will 

highlight the advances and opportunities in research and will provide some examples of research that is supported by the Special Diabetes Program, and we are pleased to welcome you, as well. 

It is my understanding that Senator Akaka has a brief opening 

statement that he wants to give, and I will call on Senator Tester, 

as well. Because the children are on a schedule, I will ask the 

statements to be brief. Senator Akaka. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman, and I 

want to add my welcome to all of you, our witnesses, the parents 

who are here, and, of course, our distinguished young people who 

are here. 

I really appreciate your coming here, and I also appreciate the 

leadership of Senator Collins, who for many years now has led this 

important effort here in the Senate. 

Diabetes is a significant health problem in my home State of Hawaii. Many people like to think of Hawaii as a place where we 

don’t have it, but we do. An estimated 100,000 people in Hawaii 

have diabetes. Diabetes is a disease that disproportionately affects 

Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Asian Americans. Native 

Hawaiians, Japanese, and Filipino adults living in Hawaii are 

twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes as compared to Caucasian residents. 

Diabetes is extremely difficult for patients to manage, as you 

well know. However, there are some promising research efforts underway, which we will learn more about today. We must continue 

to increase the funding for diabetes research to develop improved 

methods to treat, manage, and prevent diabetes. We must also 

enact meaningful stem cell legislation, as well, and we must allow 

researchers like Dr. Rodgers to be involved in ethical, federally 

funded research projects intended to help individuals suffering 

from a wide range of diseases, including diabetes. 

I look forward to hearing the testimony from our witnesses today 

who will share their experiences of overcoming diabetes. I am 

pleased that one of my constituents is here with us today, and I 

would like to welcome her. 

Natasha Garcia has been working with the Hawaii State Legislature on diabetes-related issues, and now she is here talking to the 

U.S. Senate about this disease. We are so happy to have you. Will 

you hold your hand up, Natasha? Thank you very much for being 

here. 

And also, I want to say hello to your dad, Leo Garcia, who is in 

the audience. Leo, thank you very much for being here, and I was 

going to tell you, if you don’t know who he is, look for the ‘‘aloha’’ 

shirt. [Laughter.] 

The challenges faced by all of the children here remind us of the 

tremendous importance of our work here in Washington, DC. 

7

I also want to thank our witnesses, Mary Tyler Moore, and the 

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for all of their efforts to 

improve the lives of so many people. 

In addition, I appreciate Adam Morrison for joining us today and 

serving as a role model for our children by overcoming the challenges presented by diabetes, as well as Dr. Rodgers. I want to 

wish you well in your efforts at NIH. As you know, we try very 

hard to make sure you are well funded. So thank you very much 

for being here. 

Thank you, Madam Chairman. I ask that my full statement be 

included in the record. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Akaka follows:]

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for conducting today’s hearing on juvenile diabetes. I 

also appreciate the leadership that the Ranking Member, Senator Collins, has 

shown on this important issue. 

Diabetes is a significant health problem in my home state of Hawaii. An estimated 100,000 people in Hawaii have diabetes. Diabetes is a disease that disproportionately affects Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Asian Americans. Native 

Hawaiians, Japanese and Filipino adults living in Hawaii are twice as likely to be 

diagnosed with diabetes as compared to Caucasian residents. 

Diabetes is extremely difficult for patients to manage. Taking insulin injections 

and carefully monitoring blood sugar levels are not easy tasks for both children and 

adults alike. Even with careful management, diabetes can contribute to significant 

health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, eye disease and blindness, kidney 

disease, and medical complications. 

There are some promising research efforts underway, which we will learn more 

about today. We must continue to increase the funding for diabetes research to develop improved methods to treat, manage, and prevent diabetes. We must also enact 

meaningful stem cell legislation. We must allow researchers to be involved in ethical, federally funded research projects intended to help individuals suffering from 

a wide range of diseases, including diabetes. 

Unfortunately, the President is expected to again veto the stem cell legislation. 

The President’s restrictions on stem cell research prevent federal funds from being 

used for research on newer, more promising stem cell lines. This is critical because 

embryonic stem cell lines now eligible for federal funding are not genetically diverse 

enough to realize the full therapeutic potential of this research. The President’s 

stem cell policy prevents researchers from moving ahead in an area of research that 

is very promising. 

I look forward to hearing the testimony from witnesses today who will share their 

experiences of overcoming diabetes. I am pleased that one of my constituents is with 

us today. Natasha Garcia has been actively involved in advancing diabetes-related 

issues in the Hawaii State Legislature. I also am delighted that her father, 

Leonardo, is also here today. The challenges faced by all of the children here remind 

us of the tremendous importance of our work here in Washington. 

I also want to thank Mary Tyler Moore and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for all of their efforts to improve the lives of so many people. In addition, 

I appreciate Adam Morrison for joining us today and serving as a role model for 

children by overcoming the challenges presented by diabetes. 

Again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for conducting this important hearing. I look forward to continuing to work with all of you to improve the lives of individuals suffering from diabetes.

Senator COLLINS. Without objection. Senator Tester. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR TESTER 

Senator TESTER. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I also would ask 

unanimous consent for my full statement to be put into the record. 

Senator COLLINS. Without objection 

Senator TESTER. I, too, want to thank all of you for being here 

today. Especially Dr. Rodgers for your work at the National InstiVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:21 Mar 17, 2008 Jkt 036614 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 P:\DOCS\36614.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
8

tutes of Health. It is critically important we give you the resources 

necessary so you can do the kind of research to help a lot of folks 

that are in this room here today. 

Adam Morrison, the potential NBA star, if you are not already 

there, and a great player for Gonzaga, but few folks know that 

what really got him off on the right foot is he spent 6 years in 

Glendive, Montana. We really appreciate all you have done to set 

a role model example for everybody with diabetes. 

And Mary Tyler Moore, somebody who I grew up watching on 

TV, I really appreciate all the work that you, too, have done for juvenile diabetes. 

And for the young people who are here sitting in front and out 

in the audience, Allison Trent from Missoula, who is one of the 

folks here, I appreciate your coming today. I think it is incredibly 

important that we, as policy makers at the Federal level, do things 

to make sure that you have the best ability to achieve your hopes 

and dreams for the future. 

Dealing with juvenile diabetes is something that a good, close 

personal friend of mine who I graduated from high school with was 

diagnosed with at the age of 12. When I talk to him, most of the 

time on a monthly basis, he is always asking me about how stem 

cell research is coming along, and I really think that drives it home 

for me that we need to take every avenue possible and fund every 

avenue possible so that our next generation, the reason I serve in 

the U.S. Senate, has the ability to succeed and make this country 

as great as it has been in the past. 

With that, Madam Chairman, thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Tester follows:]

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR TESTER 

Mr. Chairman, this is a very important hearing. I am pleased that Adam Morrison is here today to talk about his own experience as a diabetic, NBA star and most 

importantly a native Montanan from Glendive! 

As a rural state, Montana often finds itself on the fringes of access to information 

and support for numerous health care concerns, juvenile diabetes being one of them. 

I find it telling that while there are more than 53,000 people in Montana who have 

been diagnosed with diabetes and it is estimated that an equal number of folks 

across the state have undiagnosed diabetes, we have few statistics focused exclusively on juvenile diabetes. Even while we know that one out of every three children 

born since 2000 will develop diabetes during their lifetime, it is unclear how many 

of these will be diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. 

Type 1 or juvenile diabetes is a chronic disease that poses challenges for every 

member of the family—the young person affected and his or her parents as well. 

Thanks to new and constantly improving treatment options, developed by some of 

the organizations here today, children can expect to lead a full and active life, despite needing to receive insulin injections multiple times a day in order to remain 

healthy. 

When considering issues of access to health care in Montana, I always look to see 

how our Indian Health Service is able to serve the needs of the community, especially because the problem of diabetes is particularly acute among Native Americans. 

Therefore I am sure you can understand why I was disappointed to learn that the 

president’s budget for FY 2008 would have: 

Maintained the same insufficient funding as FY 07 of $150 million for the Indian 

Health Diabetes fund, down from the $163 million granted in FY 06. 

And barely increased the funding for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, from $1.855 billion in FY 07 to $1.858 billion for FY 08. 

As of 2002, Montana has only 14 recognized diabetes education programs and 60 

Certified Diabetes Educators spread across our great State. Access to treatment, 

education and resources is especially critical in rural areas where the number of 

9

1The prepared statement of Ms. Moore appears in the appendix on page 32. 

trained health professionals is significantly lower and spread-out than in most 

States. 

I’m looking forward to hearing about what kinds of programs will be developed 

and offered to these families as a result of this partnership. 

These kids and their families deserve to live full lives, so I’d like to know what 

you all are doing to follow up with folks after they hear about the kinds of support 

and treatment options that programs like yours open up. 

Mr. Chairman, I’ve taken up far too much time. I yield back.

Senator COLLINS. Thank you. 

Ms. Moore, if you would proceed with your statement. 

TESTIMONY OF MARY TYLER MOORE,1 INTERNATIONAL 

CHAIRMAN, JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION 

Ms. MOORE. Senator Collins, Senator Lieberman, I want to say 

good morning and thank you for the opportunity to be here with 

you today, along with these wonderful children. 

As I was preparing to come to Washington for Children’s Congress and the hearing, I thought back to the very first Congress in 

1999, and I will be honest with you—it was never my intention to 

appear before you 8 years later, still talking about the need to push 

forward aggressively on research toward a cure for type 1 diabetes. 

The good news is that we are making real progress on the research front. Progress resulting from the strong public-private partnership between JDRF and the Federal Government. Progress that 

is impacting many people with diabetes in a positive way right 

now. 

The bad news is that, for me and the children in this room, every 

day living with diabetes is a day closer to the serious complications 

from this disease. For me personally, diabetes has taken quite a 

toll. As you may know, I have been battling the disease for almost 

40 years. That is, every minute of every day for 40 years. That is 

a long time to be constantly counting, measuring, calculating, and 

hoping that all I am doing to stay in good control actually works, 

because, you see, keeping your blood sugar in normal range when 

you have diabetes is difficult, even for those who are most diligent. 

I lost count long ago of the number of fingerpricks and shots that 

I have self-administered, as well as the hypoglycemia episodes that 

all who suffer from diabetes fear. 

All of us know that our hope of a cure lies in medical research, 

and that is why we all work hard to raise the dollars to support 

the best science. Yet the pace of research can be frustrating. It 

takes a long time to build the knowledge base, test various theories 

in the lab, build the necessary infrastructure, before we even reach 

the point of beginning clinical research. But once we reach that 

point, testing new therapies in people, the research accelerates. 

That is when hope becomes tangible, not simply an idea to hold 

onto. 

In type 1 diabetes research, this is happening. We have entered 

a time of opportunity, when the pace of translating knowledge into 

benefits to patients will be determined by the strength of our public-private partnership. 

We are taking on this challenge, and we need the Federal Government to do the same. Next year, JDRF will fund approximately 

10

$170 million of research, more in a single year than any time in 

our history and nearly three times as much as we were funding in 

1999. But more exciting than the dollar amount is the type of research we are funding. In the last fiscal year, JDRF launched eight 

new clinical trials, bringing our total of active trials to 29, compared with five at the start of the year 2000. 

And the Federal Government, through your leadership Senator 

Collins, has provided critical support as well through the Special 

Diabetes Program. This program was created in 1997 because Congress recognized that funding for type 1 diabetes needed to be increased significantly to capitalize on the opportunities that existed 

at that time. It reflects the decisions of policy makers to undertake 

a highly targeted, innovative, and clinically oriented approach to 

research on type 1 diabetes and its complications. 

As a result, the funds provided through this program have been 

deployed in a different manner than usually is the case. By all 

measures, the program is working and has delivered real results. 

It is an example of how medical research should be funded at the 

Federal level. 

That is why Congress has renewed the program twice, and the funding has risen to the current level of $150 million per year. The 

program has become a key component in the Federal Government’s 

focus on type 1 diabetes research, and it provides approximately 35 

percent of all Federal support for type 1 research. 

The Special Diabetes Program has primarily supported unique 

collaborative research consortia and clinical trial networks focused 

on type 1 diabetes and its complications. Without support by this 

program, these innovative and critically important efforts either 

could not have been undertaken at all or not funded at a significantly optimal scale of operation. 

Think about what this means in human terms. Today, there are 

approximately 60,000 people participating in clinical research directly supported by this program. These are people whose lives are 

being impacted in a positive way. And because of this investment, 

the research is setting the stage for millions of others to benefit. 

We finally reached the bedside in our push from the laboratory 

bench. We must sustain this forward momentum and not allow 

ourselves to slip back. But this critical cure-enabling program is 

now set to expire, so we are asking Congress to again recognize its 

effectiveness and importance. Extend it for an additional 5 years 

and increase the funding to $200 million per year. 

Let me give you some concrete examples of research progress 

made possible by this strong public-private partnership between 

JDRF and the Federal Government. A new drug has been shown 

in human clinical trials to stabilize or reverse the immune attack 

of type 1 diabetes and, for the first time, provides evidence that the 

clinical course of the disease can be altered long-term. These trials 

are underway involving newly diagnosed children. 

Drugs originally designed for use in cancer therapy are being 

repositioned to treat people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes 

who suffer from diabetic eye disease, the leading cause of blindness 

in working-age adults. Results have been very promising. 

Advances in medical technology for continuous glucose monitoring have brought the field closer to realizing an artificial panVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:21 Mar 17, 2008 Jkt 036614 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 P:\DOCS\36614.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
11

1The prepared statement of Mr. Morrison appears in the Appendix on page 35. 

creas that could function much like a normal pancreas. A number 

of companies have continuous glucose sensors on the market, and 

people who are using them are able to achieve much tighter control 

of their blood glucose levels. 

The day we were diagnosed, we made a promise along with our 

parents, brothers, sisters, spouses, and loved ones to do whatever 

we could to help accelerate a cure. We are here today to advocate 

for ourselves and to ask you to make a promise to each of us, a 

promise to prevent a reduction of 35 percent in Federal support for 

type 1 diabetes research and to work hard to increase funding. 

Some of the young children I met during the first Children’s Congress in 1999 have since gone on to college, away from their families and support systems, bringing their diabetes and the challenges that go along with it with them. They are actively living 

their lives, pursuing their dreams, and doing what they can every 

minute of every day to keep themselves healthy. 

When you hear from some of the child delegates in a few minutes, you will see that they are very brave and are facing their diabetes with the knowledge that they need to do whatever is in their 

power to help, and they are. As many of you know, we are a very 

determined bunch! We don’t ask others to do what we haven’t already challenged ourselves to do. We are here to remind you of the 

urgency of your efforts to increase research dollars and to show 

that we will continue to do our part to remain your partner. I am 

here to ask you to look into the eyes of these beautiful kids and 

show them through your actions that you care about their future. 

I thank you so much for this opportunity, but more importantly, 

I thank you for all that you have done and that you will continue 

to do to help those living with type 1 diabetes. Together, I know 

we will get to our shared goal of a cure. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you very much for your eloquent testimony. 

[Applause.] 

You can see why Mary Tyler Moore is such a powerful advocate, 

and I am so honored that once again she has started our hearing 

off. So thank you for being here. 

Mr. Morrison. 

TESTIMONY OF ADAM MORRISON,1 NATIONAL BASKETBALL 

ASSOCIATION PLAYER, CHARLOTTE BOBCATS 

Mr. MORRISON. Good morning. It is an honor to be here today to 

appear before this Committee to tell you about the ways juvenile 

diabetes has affected my life and the need to fund research so we 

can find a cure as soon as possible. 

First, I want to thank you, Senator Collins, for chairing today’s 

hearing and your ongoing leadership in the Senate Diabetes Caucus. 

As you well know, my name is Adam Morrison. Basketball has 

always been a part of my life. I have been shooting hoops since I 

was 13 months old. My dad, John Morrison, coached college basketball in Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana. Now I am a professional basketball player with the Charlotte Bobcats of the National 

12

Basketball Association. I was drafted in 2006 after playing 3 years 

at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. I love playing basketball. The game takes determination, focus, and discipline. In 

fact, diabetes has just made me more determined to make it in the 

NBA. 

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 14. My mom 

and dad knew that there was something wrong when I lost 30 

pounds in one month, and let’s just say I wasn’t very big. When 

I was out at basketball camp at Gonzaga, I started noticing the 

symptoms. I felt very sick, dizzy, and tired. I scored four points in 

3 days. I couldn’t do anything. I was taken to the hospital, where 

I stayed for 3 days. It was hard at first to understand what was 

happening to my body, to know that I would be living with diabetes 

for the rest of my life. The first time the nurse came in to give me 

a shot of insulin, I told her that I wanted to do it myself because 

I felt like it was part of what I needed to do. 

I was fortunate to be surrounded by people who gave me positive 

encouragement right from the first day of my diagnosis. My 

endocrinologist, Dr. Ken Cathcart, came into my room at the hospital and looked me right in the eye and told me that I was going 

to be OK and I could do anything with my life. Having diabetes 

was not going to stop me from dreaming big dreams. Then I just 

went back to being a normal kid and playing basketball. I didn’t 

want to miss any time on the court. 

In my senior year of high school in Spokane, I broke single-season and career scoring records in my high school conference and led 

my school to the finals of the State tournament. 

Before I went on to the NBA, I was lucky to have the opportunity 

to reach out to other people with diabetes, like Chris Dudley, who 

played in the National Basketball Association for 14 years. Chris 

told me that, short of a cure, the one thing he wished for was to 

play one game where he didn’t have to focus on his diabetes. That 

is true for me, too. 

I test my blood glucose levels every day and several times during 

games. I wonder if it is too low. It is always on my mind. I have 

to stay really disciplined to keep it all together when I play basketball. For example, I wait exactly 2 hours and 15 minutes before tipoff and eat two five-ounce steaks, a vegetable, and a baked potato. 

It is the same meal before every game so that I can keep my glucose levels as balanced as possible. 

When I am not playing basketball, I wear an insulin pump that 

attaches to a small catheter in my abdomen, and like all the kids 

in this room, I have to stick my finger to test my blood glucose 

level anywhere from 10 to 12 times every day. We all have to calculate the number of carbohydrates we eat, the amount of exercise 

we get, and the insulin we need to take to keep our blood sugar 

level in the normal range. 

I look around this room and I see kids who are at the age that 

I was when I was diagnosed. It is when my life changed. It seemed 

like it just happened overnight, and then it changed forever. Our 

diabetes is with us every day of our lives. It never goes away, and 

we never get a time out. 

I want to be a role model for people with diabetes and show the 

150 kids that are sitting here today that you can still do what you 

13

1The prepared statement of Dr. Rodgers appears in the Appendix on page 37. 

want to do. You can still be successful and have diabetes. It is a 

disease that you can’t see, but you still have to be careful or you 

will have complications. You have to have determination. You have 

to continue to dream big dreams, but follow your doctor’s advice 

and stay healthy. 

To the Senators in this room, I want to ask you to do everything 

in your power to help us find a cure by funding the best research 

that we possibly can have in this country. The insulin we take is 

not a cure, but simply a life support. We must continue to strive 

for a cure. 

Congress can and must reauthorize and fund the Special Diabetes Program that gives us all hope. We must allow scientists to 

take full advantage of the research opportunities that currently 

exist that may lead to new treatments and a cure. Have the determination, focus, and discipline for a win here today. Please fund diabetes research. It is life or death for many of us. 

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you very much, Mr. Morrison. 

[Applause.] 

Thank you for your testimony. Basketball happens to be my favorite sport, so I don’t know whether that is why JDRF chose you 

to come here today, but they clearly chose very well, and I appreciate your being here. 

I suspect that a lot of the children who are here today play 

sports. If you play a sport, put up your hand. 

[Show of hands.] 

Wow. That is great. That is terrific. Well, you have just heard 

that sports are good for you and it is something that you can do. 

Dr. Rodgers, we are delighted to have you here today, as well. 

Please proceed. 

TESTIMONY OF GRIFFIN P. RODGERS, M.D., M.A.C.P.,1 DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES AND DIGESTIVE 

AND KIDNEY DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

Dr. RODGERS. Thank you, Senator Collins and Members of the 

Committee. Good morning. Thank you for the invitation to testify 

today about type 1 diabetes. 

And as the newly appointed Director of the National Institute of 

Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, I am pleased to provide you with some brief highlights of the formal testimony, which 

I have submitted for the record. 

But before I begin, let me acknowledge your leadership, Senator 

Collins, in really focusing attention on type 1 diabetes research, 

which is benefiting every child here today. 

Now, in response to the Committee’s request, I am pleased to 

highlight some of the research advances and opportunities made 

possible by the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research. 

This program is administered by our Institute on behalf of the 

Secretary of Health and Human Services. It involves numerous 

other components of the National Institutes of Health, as well as 

14

1The documents submitted by Dr. Rodgers appear in the Appendix on page 30. 

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and patient advocacy groups. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, in particular, is an important partner in our research efforts to prevent and to ultimately cure type 1 diabetes. 

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s 

own immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing beta 

cells in the pancreas. I provided with my testimony two handouts. 

I have shown on the first handout that it is a slowly progressive 

disease.1 In genetically susceptible individuals, an inciting event 

such as some as yet unknown environmental trigger, leads to the 

immune system’s destruction of these insulin-producing beta cells. 

The beta cells may be destroyed over the course of months or perhaps years before patients lose their ability to make sufficient insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. This loss is depicted by diabetes 

onset on that figure. When diagnosed, patients require insulin administration to live, and over time, patients can go on to develop 

disease complications that affect their eyes, their hearts, their 

nerves, and other organs throughout the body. 

The Special Diabetes Program supports a multi-pronged research 

effort to study every aspect and every step of type 1 diabetes progression that is depicted. For example, we are searching for genetic 

factors and environmental triggers of the disease, disease prevention strategies, new ways to slow or stop disease progression in 

newly diagnosed patients, innovative approaches to disease management, novel strategies to prevent and to treat complications, 

and ways to cure the disease by cell replacement therapy. 

Our efforts are already paying off with improvements in the lives 

of type 1 diabetes patients. For example, recent data have demonstrated that patients are living longer, healthier lives than ever 

before. We have evidence that prevention efforts are reducing the 

rate of diabetic kidney disease. A long-term study has shown that 

intensive therapy to control blood sugar levels in patients not only 

dramatically reduces the risk of complications involving the kidneys, the nerves, and the eyes, but it also reduces the risk of heart 

disease. New continuous glucose monitoring technologies are making it easier for patients to control their blood sugar levels, which 

as I mentioned is key to preventing these disease complications. 

Now, as shown in that second handout, there are three new 

minimally invasive continuous glucose monitoring devices that 

have recently been approved or are currently undergoing approval 

processes by the Food and Drug Administration.1 One of these devices was recently approved for use in children. 

The progress I have highlighted demonstrates how research is 

leading to tangible improvements in health and quality of life, but 

it really is imperative that we build upon these advances to further 

benefit the children here today and all the other people with type 

1 diabetes. 

I am pleased to report that we are poised for even more achievements with the launch of numerous long-term, high-impact, collaborative research efforts to combat type 1 diabetes and its complications. These efforts receive support from the Special Statutory 

Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research. 

15

For example, one long-term, large-scale, and bold undertaking is 

called The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young 

(TEDDY). This study is currently enrolling newborns and following 

them until the age of 15 years in order to identify environmental 

triggers of the disease. TEDDY is the only study in the world that 

has the significant statistical power to give us this information. If 

we determine, for example, that it is a virus, or a component of 

food, or some other environmental trigger of disease, this knowledge would be critically important and could revolutionize our ability to prevent type 1 diabetes. Just as past long-term NIH investments in research have improved patient care, we are extremely 

optimistic that the long-term investment in TEDDY could result in 

a major breakthrough in our understanding of how type 1 diabetes 

develops. 

Through networks supported by the Special Diabetes Program, 

the NIH has also recently launched new clinical trials to test therapies to prevent type 1 diabetes or to stop the progression of the disease in patients who have been recently diagnosed. These networks 

are critically important for testing emerging therapies for disease 

prevention and early treatment. The program has also enabled the 

creation of a research pipeline that is propelling progress in drug 

development for diabetes complications. This pipeline includes 

basic research in the laboratory, pre-clinical research in animal 

models, and clinical trials in people. 

Research is also ongoing to find ways to replace insulin-producing beta cells that have been destroyed by immune system attack—by transplantation or through other means, such as regeneration. Cell replacement therapy can potentially be a real cure for 

this disease. 

Together, these and other efforts are attacking the disease at all 

stages to bring the maximum benefit to the people at risk or who 

already are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. 

Thank you for this opportunity to provide these highlights of the 

advances and opportunities supported by the Special Diabetes Program. The NIDDK looks forward to continuing to work with its collaborators and partners, such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research 

Foundation International, in order to achieve our common goal of 

preventing and curing type 1 diabetes. Improving the lives of all 

people with this disease, including the children here today, continues to be the motivation behind our efforts. 

I am pleased to answer any questions that you may have, and 

thank you again for inviting me. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you very much, Doctor. 

[Applause.] 

Thank you. We appreciate your update on the research. 

Senator Levin just came in. He is chairing a Committee hearing 

elsewhere. He has asked that I express his commitment to you and 

also I will put his statement in the hearing record. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Levin follows:]

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LEVIN 

Good Morning. It’s wonderful to see so many of our nation’s children here today 

to take part in the Children’s Congress. 

16

It’s particularly inspiring to see the self-confidence and courage these children 

possess in coming here this week to speak to all of us as educators, advocates, and 

leaders. 

My name is Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, and I serve as Chairman of the 

Armed Services Committee and a Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. 

I understand that there is a remarkable young man here from my home state, 

Tre ́ Hawkins, who is going to share his story with us today. 

Tre ́ is the only child at his school in Detroit with Juvenile Diabetes, and since 

his diagnosis, he has gained the support of his school community where three teachers have taken classes on diabetes in case of an emergency and his peers know to 

give him only sugar-free snacks. 

Because of Tre ́, his teachers, peers, and family have all learned about this disease 

and are now also prepared to help others afflicted with Juvenile Diabetes. I thank 

them for their efforts and commend Tre ́ for his continued courage and advocacy. 

Thank you all for coming here today and sharing your stories with us and leading 

us through this campaign to fund research that will help find a cure for Juvenile 

Diabetes.

Senator COLLINS. Dr. Rodgers, let me start with you. The Special 

Diabetes Program is currently authorized at $150 million a year. 

It expires next year, and this program currently provides about 35 

percent of all federally supported type 1 research. How important 

is it for Congress to renew this funding and increase it to $200 million, as Mary Tyler Moore has suggested? 

What would be the impact on diabetes research if this program 

were allowed to expire? 

Dr. RODGERS. Expiration of this Special Funding Program would 

have a significant impact on what we do. We would have to eliminate or certainly greatly curtail many of our research initiatives 

currently supported by the program. These include research consortia and networks where we are on the threshold of realizing research advances from previous investments in these opportunities. 

Therefore, I would say the scope and the pace of the research will 

have to be reduced. There is also going to be a loss of momentum 

in bringing the benefits of this research to the patients if this special funding isn’t extended. 

NIDDK is currently engaged in a process, together with a number of outside special experts, to understand what we would have 

to do in terms of prioritization of existing projects. Clearly, we will 

have to either greatly reduce, curtail, or substantially cut back on 

programs that are currently ongoing. 

Senator COLLINS. And is it important to the research underway 

that the program be extended before it expires? I mean, you don’t 

want to have a situation where you have to stop important research and then try to pick it up. Is it important that Congress act 

this year to prevent the program from expiring next year? 

Dr. RODGERS. Thank you, Senator. If the program is extended 

this year as opposed to next year, that would greatly assist our 

planning and management strategies. For example, we are quite 

reluctant to start long-term projects, particularly clinical trials, 

when there is uncertainty about out-year funding. 

Second, the general process at the NIH is that there is some lead 

time associated with the development of special research funding 

opportunities or awards, making announcements for these awards, 

having the proposals come in from the investigators, having those 

proposals reviewed by our so-called study sections, and then ultimately awarding them. Now, because that process is associated 

17

with a lead time, having a seamless transition would make this 

much more effective. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you. Mary, you mentioned in your testimony that you have been dealing with the complications and the 

course of the disease for nearly 40 years. When you look at all the 

research that is underway, is there a particular advance that excites you the most? 

Ms. MOORE. Well, yes. The test that shows that, no matter how 

long people have had diabetes, there is now reason to believe that 

the beta cells are still alive, some of them, and they can be stimulated to regenerate, to grow and produce insulin just like a healthy 

person’s pancreas will. 

That is really good for me because throughout these years that 

I have had diabetes, many things have begun to fail me. I have 

something called claudication in the legs, which means that the arteries, the veins are clogged and the blood can’t get to them. This 

results in my not being able to walk for more than a block and a 

half without having to stop and overcome the pain. I was a dancer, 

and it is heartbreaking to have to deal with that. My vision is at 

a very low state. I can still get by, but boy, you should see my 

shins. They are so black and blue from bumping into things. 

Senator COLLINS. Adam, you are a great role model to the children who are here today. You show them that you can be a worldclass athlete despite having diabetes. Do you have any particular 

advice that you would like to give these children today? 

Mr. MORRISON. Yes. I had the chance to speak to these delegates 

yesterday, and I will say it again to all these kids that what you 

are doing here in Washington is very special for you young kids. 

And what Dr. Rodgers and Mary are doing is great. And understand that, if you take care of yourself, you are going to be fine. 

You can do whatever you want, whether that is athletics or whatever you want to pursue your dreams in. I was told that when I 

was diagnosed, and so that is the message I want to send to all 

these young kids. Hopefully, with your help in Congress, we can 

find a cure in their lifetime and we won’t have to have these meetings anymore. So thank you. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you. 

Mary, the last Children’s Congress—or actually I think it was 

the 2003 Congress, focused on the Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation Act. I introduced that bill, and thanks to the great grassroots efforts of JDRF, it was signed into law. Do you know where 

that research stands and how it is going? I am going to ask Dr. 

Rodgers, as well, but I would like——

Ms. MOORE. I think you should ask Dr. Rodgers——

Senator COLLINS. OK. [Laughter.] 

Ms. MOORE [continuing]. But I know in broad strokes, it is going 

very well. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you. Dr. Rodgers, could you give us an 

update on that bill, because without the work of all the families 

who are in this room, we would not have gotten that bill signed 

into law, and it is an example where the grassroots efforts of JDRF 

have made such a difference. 

Dr. RODGERS. You are absolutely right, Senator. Having this 

move forward really has made a tremendous difference. This legisVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:21 Mar 17, 2008 Jkt 036614 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 P:\DOCS\36614.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
18

1The prepared statement of Ms. McEnery appears in the Appendix on page 51. 

lation gave credit to organ procurement organizations for pancreata 

used to procure islets for basic and clinical research. This incentive 

made it easier for islet processing sites to obtain pancreata for isolating islets. 

We think the major benefit of this legislation will be realized 

when our Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium begins islet 

transplantation protocols, which will involve over 150 patients. A 

large number of pancreata will be needed for these trials. The law 

is really critically important because it is allowing this to occur in 

a seamless manner. It has had a major benefit, and I applaud the 

effort in moving that forward. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you. 

I am going to thank this panel of witnesses. There are many 

more questions that I could ask you, but I am very cognizant of the 

young people that we have with us today. So thank you so much 

for your eloquent and encouraging testimony. It has been a great 

honor to work with you, and I very much appreciate your being 

here today. Thank you. 

[Applause.] 

I am now going to call forward our next panel of witnesses this 

morning. It consists of children who know first-hand the burdens 

of living with diabetes. 

Our witnesses on this panel are Caroline McEnery of Fairfield, 

Connecticut; Caitlin Crawford of Yarmouth, Maine; Tre ́ Hawkins of 

Detroit, Michigan; and Abraham and Curtis Strader of Lakeville, 

Minnesota, who are accompanied by their mother, Ann. 

All of the members of this panel are delegates to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Children’s Congress and other delegates have obviously joined us in the well, as well, today. 

I also want to recognize the other delegate from Maine who is 

here today. That is the Chairman’s prerogative, the home State 

prerogative, and that is Aiden Sweeney, and Aiden and his mother 

testified a year ago at a hearing that we held to look at the 

progress we were making in producing an artificial pancreas. 

So I want to thank you all for being here, and we are going to 

start with Caroline. Thank you, Caroline. 

TESTIMONY OF CAROLINE McENERY,1 DELEGATE, AGE 17, 

JDRF CHILDREN’S CONGRESS, FAIRFIELD, CONNECTICUT 

Ms. MCENERY. Good morning, Senator Collins, Senator Lieberman, and Members of this Committee. 

I would like to thank Senator Lieberman for all that he does to 

help us come closer to a cure. I am so proud to be from Connecticut 

and appreciate his commitment to advancing diabetes research. 

Thank you for inviting me and the other kids on this panel to 

speak to you today. It is exciting and a little scary to be part of 

a congressional hearing, but I know that it is important for Congress to hear from kids who are living with type 1 diabetes every 

day, and I am thankful for this opportunity. 

My name is Caroline McEnery, and I am 17 years old. I was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when I was 9. Unlike most children 

with diabetes, I wasn’t diagnosed by a doctor. I was diagnosed by 

19

my mom and dad. This is because diabetes is not a rarity in my 

family. My older sister, Caitlin, now 22, was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 3. As soon as I began to display symptoms, my 

parents knew exactly what was wrong with me. Their worst nightmare had come true. They now had two children living with this 

disease. 

Finding out that I had diabetes was especially hard for me. I had 

watched my sister struggle with the disease for 9 years before I 

was diagnosed, and what I was about to endure was no surprise. 

I knew how demanding diabetes was and that it would be with me 

every second of every day until a cure is found. I knew that with 

each meal came a needle, with each birthday party, a sugar-free 

cake, and with each good night to my parents, the worry about a 

low blood sugar episode during the night. More than anything, I 

knew that I would be different than all of my friends. 

I am lucky to have a family that already knew so much about 

diabetes at the time of my diagnosis. However, despite their knowledge, diabetes still takes a toll on all of us. My mom and dad have 

to get up in the middle of the night to check my blood sugar at 2 

a.m. to make sure that I am not too high or too low in order to 

prevent seizures. If my blood sugar is too high before a family 

mealtime, everyone must wait to eat so that my insulin has time 

to work. 

My diabetes and the vigilant scheduling that it requires is a burden on my entire family. No matter how hard we try to work 

around it, we can never avoid it. 

Not a minute goes by when I forget that I have diabetes. My insulin pump is attached to me 24 hours a day, and until a cure is 

found, I will never get a break from it. Whether I am at home, at 

school, or on the volleyball court, I am always worrying about what 

my blood sugar is. As much as I try to hide having diabetes, it is 

inescapable. When I go out for ice cream with friends, it is never 

just ice cream to me. It is 40 grams of carbohydrates and four units 

of insulin. 

There are days where I just want to give up on my diabetes, but 

I keep going. My strength for handling this challenging disease 

comes from the hope that someday soon, I will no longer have to. 

When we were small, my sister and I shared a bedroom. At 

night, we would talk about things like Disney princesses, Barbie 

dolls, and what we wanted to be when we grew up. As we grew 

older, the topics ranged from boys and makeup to clothes and nail 

polish. However, after diabetes shattered our family for a second 

time, our late-night talks became an opportunity for us to voice our 

fears to one another about the burden of managing diabetes every 

day and the threat of complications that we both face in the future. 

No matter how many times a day I check my blood sugar, change 

my pump site, exercise, or closely count carbohydrates, I still face 

the impending risks of blindness, heart disease, kidney disease, 

and nerve damage. Every year, I have an annual eye doctor appointment, not because I am near- or far-sighted, but to screen for 

complications of diabetes in my eyes. I dread this appointment because despite of all the work I do day in and day out to manage 

my diabetes, I still fear that every year will be the year they tell 

me I am going to begin to lose my sight because of my diabetes. 

20

1The prepared statement of Ms. Crawford appears in the Appendix on page 53. 

Researchers all over the world are working to find a cure, and 

I know that the funding Congress provides for research is helping 

and is resulting in exciting advances. One advance that is very real 

to me is the development of continuous glucose sensors that track 

a person’s blood sugar level in almost real time and help them to 

stay in better control to reduce their risk for developing complications later in life. 

At the beginning of this year, I began participating in a continuous glucose monitoring clinical trial. The CGM is a system that 

is built into my insulin pump. I wear a transmitter, which is connected to a wire probe and inserted under my skin. I have to 

change the second site every 3 days, in addition to my pump site, 

which I change every other day. The CGM gives me freedom, which 

I did not have before. I no longer worry about having a seizure during the night because my sensor will alert me before this happens. 

I can participate in sports with ease because I can see what my 

blood sugar is throughout my games. 

Although the CGM has made my diabetes care much more manageable, it is certainly not a cure. I still have to test my blood 

sugar twice a day and calculate my insulin doses, and this trial requires that I visit the doctor every 2 weeks rather than every 3 

months. 

Congress must do its part, too, by making funding for diabetes 

research a priority. I would have given anything to shop for a junior prom dress like all of my classmates without thinking about 

how to incorporate an insulin pump hidden underneath. I am fortunate enough to remember what it was like to live a life without diabetes, and I hope that someday I can experience that again. I 

want to be able to tell my children about the day I was cured of 

juvenile diabetes, and it can’t be done without you. Please help me, 

my sister, and the 3 million other Americans with juvenile diabetes 

be able to say, I used to have diabetes. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you very much, Caroline. 

[Applause.] 

Thank you. You did a great job. Caitlin from Yarmouth, Maine. 

TESTIMONY OF CAITLIN CRAWFORD,1 DELEGATE, AGE 13, 

JDRF CHILDREN’S CONGRESS, YARMOUTH, MAINE 

Ms. CRAWFORD. Hello. My name is Caitlin Crawford, and I am 

13 years old, and I live in Yarmouth, Maine. Maine is a great place 

to live, and I feel so lucky to have you, Senator Collins, as my Senator. You do so much for people with diabetes, and you give us all 

so much hope. Thank you for that. 

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 22 months ago on August 

19, 2005. That was the day my life changed forever. Unlike some 

of the kids in this room, I remember what life used to be like before 

I had diabetes, and I would give anything to go back to being a normal kid. Every day for the past 22 months, I test my blood sugar 

10 to 12 times, take five to seven insulin shots, and worry all the 

time, especially when I close my eyes at night to go to bed. 

I am a skier on the middle school team in Yarmouth, and in a 

lot of ways, the way I think about each ski race is how I think 

21

about my diabetes. I have been trained to go down the mountain, 

looking at each gate, attacking the hill, and crossing the finish line. 

In ski racing, the first gate is the hardest. As you push out of the 

starting block, everything has to be perfect. 

This is just like getting up in the morning when you have diabetes. I really have to think ahead. How do I feel? How much exercise 

will I be doing today? What am I going to eat? How much insulin 

am I going to have to take today? I have to make sure that my bag 

is always full of the supplies that I need to carry me through the 

day. I do sometimes forget and pay the consequence later. 

When you are racing, you never really hear the fans as you are 

speeding down the mountain, but you know they are supporting 

you and cheering you on. With diabetes, I need to rely on their support every day. My fans are my family, friends, coaches, doctors, 

and nurses. 

My No. 1 fan is my family, and they are amazing. I have realized 

what they have had to give up to help me, especially my mother, 

who left her job when I was diagnosed. My brother, Wes, gives up 

a lot because of me. If I am not feeling well or my numbers are 

off, everything has to stop, and that means sometimes something 

he really wants to do. My dad is the rock. He picks us up on all 

of those hard days. My friends are there, but I always feel that I 

am different and not like them. I wish that I could just be like 

them, to be so carefree. My school nurse is also the best. She is always looking out for me so I can think about my studies. 

When I ski, sometimes I slip and catch an edge, but I get back 

up and continue on. This is how I feel about diabetes. I have had 

some really bad lows and some really bad highs. I have watched 

a taxi drive away in New York City and realized in that cab was 

my diabetes bag, and we were 300 miles away from home. We got 

it back after a few stressful hours. Another time, I got stuck on a 

chairlift, and as I sat up in the air looking down, I realized that 

I did not have my diabetes supplies with me. After 40 minutes, I 

was still stuck, thinking that this could turn into something really 

bad soon. 

Unlike ski racing, where each race has a beginning and an end, 

diabetes is always with me. I can never take a break. It is hard, 

and sometimes I just want to stop and take a break—stop testing 

my blood sugar, stop having to take insulin shots, stop counting all 

the carbs in my food, and stop worrying about what might happen 

to me all the time. But I know this isn’t an option. 

When I think about my future, I think about being the best skier 

I can be. I also think about what diabetes is doing to my body and 

that unless a cure is found, I might be facing serious complications. 

I know that my hope for a cure lies in medical research. I am 

doing my part to keep myself healthy, and I am asking Congress 

to help by providing more funding for research. Progress is being 

made, but there is still more work to do. I will continue to do my 

part, participating in walks, speaking to friends, or just being a 

friend to a new diabetic. But time is not on my side, and we cannot 

do it without your help. 

When I race, I wear the number 19 on my back, and when people 

hear, ‘‘Go Number 19,’’ it is just not for me to ski faster. It is also 

22

1The prepared statement of Mr. Hawkins appears in the Appendix on page 55. 

the day that my life changed forever. Thank you for listening to my 

story. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you very much, Caitlin. 

[Applause.] 

Good job. I can see why you are a good skier, as well, and you 

can count me as part of your team of fans. 

Tre ́, thank you for being here. 

TESTIMONY OF TRE ́ HAWKINS,1 DELEGATE, AGE 12, JDRF 

CHILDREN’S CONGRESS, DETROIT, MICHIGAN 

Mr. HAWKINS. Good morning. My name is Tre ́ Hawkins, and I 

live in Detroit, Michigan. I am 12 years old. To you, I may look like 

a regular kid, but I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 

7 years old, and I have spent every day since then wanting to be 

a regular kid, free from diabetes. 

It was my grandmother who recognized the symptoms. She was 

worried about my weight, my constant hunger and thirst, and 

about my going to the bathroom every 10 to 15 minutes. She took 

me to see the doctor, and they did a urine test, and my sugar level 

was very high. The doctor had her take me directly to Beaumont 

Hospital, and I stayed there for 3 or 4 days until they got my glucose level under control. At that time, I knew I was sick, but I 

didn’t know how much my life was going to change. 

It was difficult at first at school because my classmates didn’t 

understand diabetes. My teachers were concerned about what to do 

if I became sick while at school. Three of my teachers took a weekend class to learn about diabetes and what to do if I became sick. 

They then had me talk to my classmates about diabetes, and now 

I have some playground buddies that look out for me at recess and 

know what to do if I get sick. 

I know that I am lucky to have such good support at school. It 

is a little better now, but I still have trouble keeping my sugar 

level in the normal range during school because I have to count the 

carbs I eat and there are no labels on the food to tell me how many 

carbs are in what I am eating. When my sugar level goes too high 

or too low, I have trouble concentrating in class and I don’t feel 

well. 

This disease has been a financial burden on my grandparents 

and my mom, but they try hard to make my life as normal as possible and they don’t complain. When you have type 1 diabetes, you 

have to take insulin every day and there are a lot of supplies that 

go along with it. 

I am glad that you invited kids to talk to you about what it is 

like to have diabetes and why a cure is important to us. For me, 

a cure means being able to be a kid, to play baseball and ride my 

bike without fear of my blood sugar dropping too low. It means no 

more pricking my fingers at least five times a day. It means no 

more getting sick at school because my sugar level has gone too 

high. It means no more scheduling my eating and counting carbs. 

For me and the kids just like me, it means freedom, freedom to be 

just a kid. 

23

1The prepared statement of Ms. Strader appears in the Appendix on page 56. 

Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today, and thank 

you for listening. I am just a kid, but I have big dreams. Right 

now, my biggest dream is to be cured from diabetes. Please remember me—Tre ́ Hawkins from Detroit, Michigan—and work hard to 

provide more money for diabetes research so this dream can become a reality. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you, Tre ́. Great job. 

[Applause.] 

Thank you, Tre ́. You did a terrific job. 

We are now going to hear from Ann, who is going to speak on 

behalf of her sons. 

TESTIMONY OF ANN STRADER,1 MOTHER OF ABRAHAM AND 

CURTIS STRADER, DELEGATES, AGE 6, JDRF CHILDREN’S 

CONGRESS, LAKEVILLE, MINNESOTA 

Ms. STRADER. Senator Collins and Senator Lieberman, thank you 

for holding this hearing and giving us the opportunity to share our 

stories with you. I am speaking today on behalf of my 6-year-old 

identical twin boys, Abraham and Curtis Strader, who both live 

with type 1 diabetes. 

Raising twin boys lends itself to a lot of energy, enthusiasm, 

wrestling, and noise. Raising twin boys with diabetes requires constant management, daily care, and thousands of finger pokes. 

I remember after Abe and Curt were born, we brought them 

home from the hospital. I would often sit in the glider in their 

nursery and just watch them sleep. They were absolutely precious. 

I felt a sense of joy that was accompanied by the overwhelming 

feeling of being their protector. I knew that my boys would be well 

loved, cared for, and that my husband and I would always keep our 

boys protected and safe. Then, just 2 years later, diabetes struck. 

In 2003, when Abe and Curt were just 2 years old, both were diagnosed with diabetes in a span of 2 weeks. In that 2-week period, 

half our family had become diabetic. Neither my husband, Neil, nor 

I have a single case of type 1 diabetes in our extended families. We 

quickly learned the seriousness of diabetes and the importance of 

managing the disease in order to keep our boys healthy. 

Children with diabetes typically have a shortened life expectancy 

and a higher risk of stroke, blindness, and kidney failure. All of 

those devastating eventual effects seem far off, but the one that always scares me the most is the fact that no one knows how low 

blood sugars affect brain development in young children like Abe 

and Curt. 

With the diagnosis came the loss of predictability and stability. 

I took a leave from my job as a teacher to stay home and provide 

full-time care for my boys. I no longer could leave them with just 

someone who would provide care for them. I could only leave them 

with someone who knew how to check blood sugars, give insulin 

shots, count carbohydrates, document with detail, and identify 

symptoms of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Of course, they 

must be able to give a glucagon shot in case my child were to become unconscious. 

24

I remember when we were in the hospital with Abraham, and he 

would cry and cry when the nurse would come in to give him shots. 

He would scream, ‘‘Make her stop, Mommy. Make her stop.’’ My 

heart was crushed. I was Abe’s protector, and now this disease had 

made me helpless. I realized that soon I would be the one giving 

him shots that were causing him fear, pain, and anger. I have no 

choice but to do this. It is a matter of fact that without proper 

management and care, our children would die. 

As a family, my husband and I have made a commitment to 

manage the disease so that the disease doesn’t manage us. But 

most days, this is easier said than done. Abe and Curt are not able 

to consistently tell us when they feel like their blood sugar is high 

or low. It is a matter of constant testing. As parents, we have to 

try to judge if their behavior is related to blood sugars or are they 

just acting like regular kids. 

Their blood sugars are impacted by food, exercise, anxiety, and 

their own growing bodies. Sometimes exercise will impact Abe and 

Curt immediately, and other times it will drop them low up to 12 

hours later. It is this sort of unpredictability that keeps us getting 

up every night at all hours to check their blood sugar. I can’t even 

begin to describe to you the worry that we have as parents that we 

carry around with us every day and night. Worry that we are not 

managing their diabetes as well as we should, worry that one of 

my boys will experience a low blood sugar episode in the night and 

not wake up in the morning, worry that as much as we try to allow 

them to be regular kids, diabetes is robbing them of their childhood, and worry about what having diabetes will mean for them as 

they grow older. 

But this worry is nothing compared to what Abe and Curt go 

through every day. Neil and I have administered approximately 

5,500 shots and 23,360 finger pricks to our boys in the past 4 

years. For the first 2 years living with diabetes, my children received three to four insulin shots a day and we checked their blood 

sugar with a finger poke six to ten times around the clock. My husband remembers having to ask a neighbor to come over to help 

hold one of the boys down so he could administer a shot. 

When Abe and Curt were 4 years old, they started wearing insulin pumps. We have experienced great relief from shots, but finger 

pokes are still constant. We have experienced tighter management, 

but high and low blood sugars are still a battle. A pump is a great 

management tool, but it is not a cure. 

After the boys were diagnosed, my husband and I knew we had 

to make a choice. We could sit around and feel victimized, or we 

could become proactive in finding a cure for this disease. Over the 

past 4 years, we have actively raised money for JDRF through our 

local Walk For a Cure. Our family team, Team Twin Power, has 

raised over $45,000, and I do all I can for JDRF in its mission for 

a cure. However, I know that no matter how much money our family or families like mine across the country raise, we need increased 

Federal support for diabetes research to get to our goal of finding 

a cure. 

I am asking Congress—on behalf of Abe and Curt and the millions of kids who are living with type 1 diabetes—to increase Federal funding for diabetes research. Be our partner. Give Abe and 

25

Curt the hope that a cure will be found in their lifetime. I promised 

my boys that I will do all I can to get to a cure as soon as possible. 

I am asking you to make the same promise to them. 

I would like to share a few statements that Abe and Curt have 

made about living with diabetes and what they would like our lawmakers to know about living with this disease. 

Abe has said, ‘‘I want to tell lawmakers we have to get a cure 

for diabetes so I wouldn’t have to wear a pump all the time. I want 

them to know it hurts when my mom has to change my site. I 

would like to tell them that sometimes my blood sugar is low, and 

it makes me feel really dizzy and sick. It is hard to do my best 

work at school when I feel dizzy and sick.’’

And Curt says, ‘‘I want to tell people in Washington I don’t like 

having diabetes. I have to wear a pump all the time or I would get 

really sick. One day, I threw up at school because my blood sugar 

was really high. I didn’t feel well at all.’’

Abe and Curt have just finished kindergarten. They enjoy playing soccer, T-ball, and going to water parks. They don’t know what 

life is like without a blood sugar meter, shots, a pump, and counting carbohydrates. I would give anything for them to know a future 

without diabetes. 

This past December, my son Abe woke up on Christmas morning, 

and just like thousands of other kids, he could hardly wait to open 

gifts. He quickly ripped into a colorful box from his grandma. Inside the box, she had put a small Star Wars toy and several dollar 

bills for him to pick out something at the store. Abe quickly 

grabbed the toy and turned to me and said, ‘‘Wow, Mom. Look at 

all this money we can use to find a cure for diabetes.’’

It is not every 6-year-old who thinks about giving money to research. We all look forward to a day without diabetes. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you very much. 

[Applause.] 

Thank you. Do either Curtis or Abe want to say anything to us? 

Curtis STRADER. Please promise to remember me. 

Abraham STRADER. Please promise to remember me. 

Senator COLLINS. I promise. 

[Applause.] 

Good job, boys. Thank you very much for your testimony. 

Ann, let me start with my first question for you. First of all, I 

so admire your devotion to your children, but also your advocacy 

work. It seems to me that another advantage when you get involved in a group like JDRF is you meet other families who are 

coping with the same kinds of challenges that you are having. Has 

that been helpful to you as well from that perspective? 

Ms. STRADER. I think it helps you to keep from feeling isolated, 

and to come here and see all these kids, I know for Abe and Curt, 

we don’t know very many other children in our area that they are 

friends with that have diabetes, and so for them to come here and 

see all the kids in yellow shirts is helpful for them. I remember 

them looking at me and saying, ‘‘All these kids have diabetes?’’ and 

they couldn’t believe it. It was very evident when we were standing 

to sing on the Capitol lawn and Abe found two other kids that have 

matching purple pumps with his and just how affirming that was 

for him that other kids deal with this day in and day out. It is a 

26

great thing for families like ours to get involved with JDRF, and 

it helps to create awareness for other people, as well. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you. 

Tre ́, I understand that you are interested in being a professional 

football player when you grow up, is that right? 

Mr. HAWKINS. Yes. I want to be a running back. 

Senator COLLINS. All right. So did it help you today to hear 

Adam’s testimony? He is a professional athlete. Does that help to 

inspire you to achieve your goal, too? 

Mr. HAWKINS. Yes. 

Senator COLLINS. Did you know any other children who had juvenile diabetes at your school in Michigan? 

Mr. HAWKINS. Nobody. I am the only one who has diabetes in my 

school. 

Senator COLLINS. Is that hard for you? 

Mr. HAWKINS. Yes. 

Senator COLLINS. I bet it is, but it sounds like you have got some 

good buddies that help you, is that right? 

Mr. HAWKINS. Yes, I do. 

Senator COLLINS. So that must be a help. 

Caitlin, what about you? Was it hard to tell your friends about 

your diabetes? 

Ms. CRAWFORD. It kind of was because no one really knows what 

it is. There are only five of us in our whole town, and four of them 

are all in the high school. I am the only one in the middle school. 

So no one really had any idea, but no one really treats me any differently. 

Senator COLLINS. That is great. So your friends help you, also. 

And it sounds like you have a great school nurse who helps, as 

well. That must be a plus for you, too. 

And Caroline, you told us about the clinical trial that you are 

part of, the continuous glucose monitor. How did you find out about 

this clinical trial? 

Ms. MCENERY. Well, one of the doctors at the Yale Diabetes Program told me about it, and I was really interested in becoming a 

participant, so I called the woman who was running it and then I 

started. 

Senator COLLINS. That is great. That is not only going to help 

you, but by your participating in this clinical trial, you will help 

all these other children who might benefit from that kind of monitor in the future. So I think you should feel really good about that. 

Ms. MCENERY. Yes, I do. 

Senator COLLINS. That is great. 

Caitlin, when you found out that you had diabetes, were you worried that you might not be able to be on the ski team anymore? 

Ms. CRAWFORD. Well, I knew my uncle had diabetes, but I didn’t 

really know what it meant. I didn’t really think much about skiing 

at the time. I was just thinking, am I going to be OK? I was kind 

of nervous at first starting again because I wasn’t sure what was 

going to happen with sports now. But sports are a big part of my 

life. I do lacrosse in the spring, and I do soccer in the spring, and 

I do skiing, both Nordic and downhill, in the winter, and then I do 

soccer in the fall, so it helps maintain my blood level. 

27

Senator COLLINS. That is wonderful. I think it is just great that 

you have kept all that up. 

I do want to thank all of you for being here today. You remind 

of us how important the mission is for us to renew the Special Diabetes Program and increase the funding from $150 million to $200 

million. 

And I want to tell all of the children who are here today that you 

have a special assignment, OK. Here is your assignment. It is a little bit like homework, but it is more fun. Your assignment is to go 

see your Members of Congress or your Senators and tell them that 

we need more money for research. Will you do that for me? 

CHORUS. Yes. 

Senator COLLINS. Good because, you know, if you go and talk to 

them, I will tell you, we will get the job done. 

All of you have asked that I remember you, and I just wanted 

to say to all the children who are here today that I promise to remember each and every one of you and to work for the funding that 

will produce better treatments, but most importantly, that will 

point the way to a cure. 

So thank you so much for coming all the way from your home 

States to be with us today. You remind us of what this is all about, 

and you inspire us to continue to fight for the money for diabetes 

research. So thank you so much for being here today. 

I want to thank JDRF for doing just a wonderful job and Mary 

Tyler Moore, who is such an inspiring international chairman and 

who has helped advance the public’s understanding of this terrible 

disease. I want to thank all of you who have come from all around 

the country. 

I want to thank Larry Soler, who we work so closely with and 

does such a fabulous job for JDRF. 

I also want to thank Priscilla Hanley on my staff. She has 

worked with me for years, and she has adopted this as her personal cause, as well as mine. 

So thank you all for teaching us so much today, for putting a 

human face, such wonderful human faces, on this disease and for 

inspiring us to fight for a cure. Thank you. 

The hearing record will remain open for 15 days for additional 

materials, and this hearing is now adjourned. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 11:07 a.m, the Committee was adjourned.] 

(29)

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