Rob Bishop (Rep-UT-1)

JDRF advocates held a wonderful meeting with Representative Rob Bishop in his Brigham City, UT office. There were 6 families in attendance. Julie Olsen, mom to Anneliese who is almost 4, shared her personal story of her daughter having diabetes. She was diagnosed at the age of 2. She shared the ups and downs of caring for the disease as well as the fears and risks of having it. Anneliese also showed him her insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor explaining how they work, how they have improved her diabetes management, and how improvements are needed. Shellie Healy and her son Jimmy, 12, spoke about the artificial pancreas. Jimmy shared about his experience having diabetes since the age of 5. He is a competitive swimmer and his relay team took first in state in their division. He doesn't let diabetes stop him from doing what he enjoys, but it does impact his life and there are times he is not able to swim due to his blood sugar levels. His mom emphasized the importance of having the technology to better manage their blood sugar levels and reduce the chance of complications. Stacey Warnick shared how much a difference it would have made this past year if her son Tannon, 6, had an artificial pancreas. He had an episode 8 months ago where he pushed one button by mistake, and the pump subsequently gave him 12 times the insulin needed. If Stacey had not had the intuition to check his pump before bed, he would not have woken up. The artificial pancreas would have alerted us to the problem and shut off his insulin delivery. Also, a few months ago his insulin pump tubing became disconnected in the night and he was not getting his proper amount of insulin. When he woke up vomiting in the morning we assumed he had the flu. It took the family several hours to realize the problem. Both scenarios could have been prevented had we had the artificial pancreas. Other families were also able to briefly introduce themselves to Representative Bishop and share their connection to type 1 diabetes. Stacey shared some diabetes statistics and also reminded the Congressman how JDRF is the leading charitable funder for type 1 research. The advocates concluded the meeting by emphasizing their desire to have Representative Bishop's support in ensuring the FDA stays true to their promise of a December 1 deadline for draft guidance for the artificial pancreas. He agreed to be a help in making sure this happened. Finally, the advocates asked him to promise to remember them! Thank you Representative Bishop for a great meeting!