Utah kids to help fight juvenile diabetes

Jimmy Healy has been watching his carbohydrate intake since before it became popular.

The 10-year-old from Cache County found out he had type 1 diabetes when he was 4 years old, and he has been taking insulin shots and monitoring his blood-glucose levels with a handheld monitor, which his friends thought was a video game.

"There's nothing he eats that doesn't remind him he has diabetes," said Jimmy's mother, Shellie Healy. "He doesn't remember life without diabetes. And to think he'll have it for the rest of his life."

Jimmy, his family and another girl with diabetes, will travel to Washington, D.C., in less than two weeks to help convince senators and congressmen of the need for continued funding for diabetes research.

Utah Jazz player Deron Williams shook hands with Jimmy and 9-year-old Grace McCullough on Friday to wish them luck before they leave for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's annual Children's Congress June 22-24.

"You see how it ultimately took our owner, a great man in this community, Larry H. Miller," Williams said of diabetes.

"This disease kills about one American every three minutes," said the diabetes foundation's chapter board president, Gary Leavitt. "And when these little children get it, they have to take care of themselves all the time."

The two children will join more than 1,500 kids from all 50 states and actress Mary Tyler Moore, who has had type 1 diabetes for almost 40 years, to testify about the need for continued research. And they are bringing along scrapbooks displaying their journey of living with diabetes, to offer leaders a glimpse at what they go through every day.

Despite the disease that requires constant monitoring of insulin levels, Jimmy plays basketball, surfs and swims for a local team. He said he's gotten used to checking the monitor and the sticker that keeps a little plastic tube under his skin for insulin injections in place.

"I think it's tough what they go through," Williams said. "Jimmy shows, at the same time, you can have fun and keep living your life. You can't stop living your life."

Grace said you get used to the pinpricks and needles that come with diabetes. She found out she was diabetic almost two years ago, after her parents noticed she had rapidly dropped 25 pounds and often felt lethargic.

"She got to the emergency room, and her blood sugar was almost 700," said Grace's dad, Scott McCullough. "It should've been around 100."