Gindele

A Tristate student will be among the nearly 200 youngsters who will be asking Congress and the Bush Administration to help find a cure for juvenile diabetes.

Chris Gindele, 13, of Blue Ash will be one of the delegates who makes the trip to Washington, D.C., June 22-24 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) International Children's Congress 2003.

Delegates, headed by JDRF International Chair Mary Tyler Moore, will ask Congress to support the Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation Act of 2003 and a 10 percent increase in funding for medical research for the National Institutes of Health.

Gindele, who starts eighth grade in the fall at Sycamore Junior High School, has to take an insulin shot every time he eats.

"Sometimes I think long and hard about an afternoon snack since it means I have to take a shot too," he said.

He was diagnosed eight years ago.

Diabetes sometimes interferes with Gindele's active life, which includes baseball, basketball, bicycling and rollerblading.

"It's always there and it affects everything I do."

The Cincinnati Enquirer