Rosemary Fuller is the Advocacy Team Chair for JDRF’s Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter. Her connection to type 1 diabetes (T1D) is her now twenty-one-year-old son, Cameron, who was diagnosed on his seventh birthday. She turned to JDRF for support soon after moving to the United States from Scotland after Cameron had a frightening hypoglycemic episode. “It terrified the life out of me – I thought I was going to lose him. At our [Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia] visit we heard about JDRF and I knew I had to get in contact with an organization that was dedicated to helping families deal with this, but was also committed to finding a cure.”

She became involved with JDRF Advocacy after joining the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter board and then became the Government Relations Chair since it appealed to her people skills. Her proudest moment participating in JDRF Advocacy was when she won “Rookie of the Year” Award, because it showed her that she was doing her job well and motivated her further.

Rosemary says the most difficult part of her position is recruiting more advocates because people do not understand what advocacy means. She advises those who want to get involved, “Don’t be put off by the word ‘Advocacy’…Advocacy is all about telling your story of living with T1D to your legislators. It’s about talking from the heart and telling them why we need a cure. It’s as simple as that.” She emphasized that participating in JDRF Advocacy can even be as simple as responding to Action Alerts and making a short phone call to a Representative’s office. “Everyone who has ANY connection to T1D should be a JDRF Advocate,” Rosemary said. “They shouldn’t even be questioning it.”

Government Day was Rosemary’s favorite JDRF Advocacy event because she got to meet the complete JDRF Advocacy Team and felt proud watching advocates young and old meet their Members of Congress. “To see so many people from around the whole country doing the same thing I am trying to do makes me feel part of something big and powerful,” Rosemary said. She said it is also very rewarding when politicians sign onto legislation that JDRF has been advocating, such as Special Diabetes Program or the artificial pancreas trials.

Rosemary has had several incredible experiences with Members of Congress. One night, a Member of Congress himself called her house to arrange a Promise to Remember Me meeting at a restaurant in Philadelphia. Another time, Rosemary ended up having tea with a Representative, who was very welcoming and took out his best china. That same Member of Congress was also very kind during a Government Day meeting when he personally walked a group of more than fifty JDRF Advocates through the tunnels from the House of Representatives to the Senate and gave Rosemary cookies leftover from his lunch with the President. All these successful meetings with Members of Congress have made Rosemary view JDRF Advocacy as a rewarding experience and contribute to her six-word advocacy memoir: TOGETHER we are POWERFUL – we ACHIEVE.