Tilly Stimpson was diagnosed with T1D in 2010 at the age of 2 and a half. She has been involved with JDRF since around this time, raising awareness and advocating for the disease she lives with everyday.
“Ever since I’ve been diagnosed I’ve just been raised living with type 1. My whole life has been around diabetes, and seeing my friends grow up and living a normal life has been kind of challenging since a young age,” said Stimpson. “Knowing a lot about diabetes and knowing all about my body has given me a lot of maturity though, and it’s a good thing, but it’s also very overwhelming.”
Stimpson’s mom, Jo, describes the hardships of navigating her daughter’s diagnosis.
“It was pretty rough, I’m not going to lie. Her dad was diagnosed at the age of 32 so we weren’t new to it, but having a child with it is very different.”
“She used to run away and hide under the dining room table crying if I needed to give her a needle,” recalls Jo.
As part of Stimpson’s years of advocacy she has been involved with many diabetes initiatives, including Kids for a Cure, Let’s Make History Again, clinical trials, the Peterborough Sun Life Walk to Cure Diabetes and more.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, Stimpson and her family wrote 100 letters to community members in local nursing homes during the pandemic in 2021.
The TAS student says she feels passionate about the insulin crisis that those with T1D face.
“I think it’s an awful thing to struggle with, to decide whether to eat for the night or keep to themselves alive, and I hope that I can really make a difference on that,” Stimpson says.
Through all her efforts she has raised a total of over $80,000 for diabetes research.
“My main goal is to raise awareness for this disease, and not only speak on my behalf but also (for) a lot of Canadians that I know that have diabetes,“ said Stimpson.
From July 9 to 11, Stimpson will travel to Washington. D.C. to meet with some of the top decision makers in the U.S. government to advocate for T1D awareness.
The 160 youth delegates in JDRF’s Children’s Congress will speak with US Members of Congress and help them to understand what life with T1D is like for millions of people living with it, and why research to fund cure-based therapies is so critical and life-changing.
In her JDRF application, Stimpson outlined her goals during this trip.
“I hope to be able to make a difference. I want to educate members of the Government on this relentless disease and I hope to see a difference made in our advocacy work. I also really hope to make amazing connections and friendships with people from around the world who live with the same thing I do. We all have struggles and some are not the same. It will be interesting to listen to other people’s stories and I hope collectively we can help each other and the T1D community.”
