A high school student from Old Town testified before a congressional committee Wednesday about the challenges of living with Type 1 Diabetes.
Ruby Whitmore was invited to speak to the Senate Appropriations Committee by Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who leads the committee and co-chairs the Senate Diabetes Caucus.
A rising junior at Old Town High School, Whitmore competes on soccer and track teams. But the 16-year-old told senators that she's able to stay active because of technology — like continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps — that were developed with federal support.
"I never want a young girl to think she can't play sports because of her insulin pump," Whitmore said. "I never want a family to skip doses or ration supplies because of costs. Everyone living with Type 1 Diabetes deserves the chance to thrive."
Whitmore told lawmakers that while insulin and technology allow her to manage her disease, she and others like her are never able to take a break from it. Type 1 Diabetes is an auto-immune disease often diagnosed in children or young adults in which the body attacks the cells that create insulin, preventing its production. Type 1 is far less common than Type 2 Diabetes in which the body creates less insulin, resulting in insulin resistance.
"I recognize that I am very lucky to be able to be here . . . as a healthy diabetic who can afford insulin and who has supplies and who has resources and has a support system," she said. "Many people don't."
The committee hearing also heard from two other youth athletes: high school student and nationally ranked tennis player Rachel White of North Hampton, N.H., as well as Katie Bone, the national speed climbing champion and an Olympic hopeful. Senators also heard from Dr. Griffin Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Whitmore and White were among about 170 other young people who were in D.C. as delegates participating in the Breakthrough T1D Children's Congress.
The hearing was held at a time when the Trump administration has canceled or frozen grants for diabetes research — an issue that Democrats on the committee raised repeatedly when speaking with Rodgers. The Trump administration has also proposed cutting billions of dollars from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of its budget, which will be reviewed by the House and Senate appropriations committees.
"I want to be clear here today: Trump does not get to decide funding for diabetes, Congress does," said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top-ranking Democrat on the committee. "And I know members on both sides of the aisle are committed to making sure we maintain strong investments in this work. But we need more than just talk right now. We need to stand up and reject what is happening right now to biomedical research at NIH."
Early on in the hearing, Collins asked the roomful of young delegates how many of them were using the continuous glucose monitors that were developed with the support of federal research investments. Almost all of their hands shot up.
"That shows the difference that the research can make," Collins said.
