Tilly Stimpson, a young Peterborough resident living with type 1 diabetes who been has raising awareness and funds for many years, has been chosen to represent Canada at the JDRF 2023 Children’s Congress in Washington, D.C. this July.
JDRF is a non-profit organization working to change the reality for those living with type 1 diabetes (TD1) by funding research, advocating for government support of research and new therapies, ensuring new therapies come to market, and connecting and engaging the T1D community.
The organization was formerly known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, when T1D was commonly called “juvenile diabetes” because it was frequently diagnosed in young children. Today, it is known that an equal number of children and adults are diagnosed with TD1 every day, and the organization recently changed its name to reflect this.
Every two years, more than 160 children living with TD1 gather in Washington, D.C. for the JDRF Children’s Congress, where they meet face-to-face with some of the top decision-makers in the U.S. government. Representing the millions of people living with T1D along with their families and loved ones, JDRF’s youth delegates help U.S. members of Congress understand what life with T1D is like and why research to fund both life-changing and cure-based therapies is so critical.
Tilly, who is 15 years old and a Grade 10 student at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School, was diagnosed with T1D in June 2010 when she two and a half years old.
“I have no recall of living a ‘normal’ life without T1D,” Tilly says. “Ever since I can remember, I have had to count carbs, test my blood, be poked and prodded several times a day.”
Since her diagnosis, raising awareness about T1D has been extremely important for Tilly and her family — including her dad Matt, who is also living with TD1.
Tilly has attended JDRF’s Kids for a Cure three times. Similar to the Children’s Congress, the bi-annual advocacy event sees youth advocates from across Canada help Canadian politicians understand the daily challenges of living with T1D and the importance of accelerating progress towards a cure.
She has also been a key speaker at the Access for All speakers circuit in Pickering and surrounding areas and a spokesperson for Access for All at Queens Park in Toronto. She has advocated at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), a key JDRF Canada funding partner for vital cure-based research.
In 2021, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, Tilly wrote 100 letters to seniors in nursing homes and the community to provide company during pandemic lockdowns. She is also an active youth ambassador and has filmed countless videos and participated in several activities with JDRF.
Tilly has also raised more than $80,000 for diabetes research. Her fundraising activities have included being a JDRF Let’s Make History Again ambassador and raising over $10,000, helping lead the Peterborough Sun Life Walk to Cure Diabetes for a number of years, co-hosting a gala in Peterborough with her family in support of JDRF Canada, and participating in JDRF walks in Peterborough, Ottawa, and Toronto since 2010.
She has also taken part in two clinical trials, where new therapies designed to prevent, treat, or cure TD1 are tested.
She has been a stock image photography model for diabetes representation, and was nominated for “Day of the Girl”, a project of INSPIRE: The Women’s Portrait Project that honours and celebrates inspirational young women under the age of 19 in the Peterborough area
All these activities led JDRF to select Tilly to represent Canada at the Children’s Congress in Washington, D.C. this July.
“I am absolutely honoured to be chosen to represent Canada at the International Children’s Congress,” Tilly says. “Advocacy and educating about T1D are important to me and to be given the opportunity to have a voice alongside international delegates is extremely exciting. I hope I make Canada proud!”
