Lake Dallas Middle School 7th grader Anastasia White has been chosen to represent Texas this year at the JDRF Children's Congress in Washington D.C. Every two years, more than 150 children living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) gather in Washington, D.C., to meet face-to-face with some of the top decision-makers in the U.S. government to try and convince our leaders to continue fundraising and researching.

Anastasia enjoys cheerleading and golfing. She hopes to soon be the captain of her high school golf team and eventually play in the LPGA. From the moment she was diagnosed, her mind was set on not letting T1D get in the way of her living her life.

“I was determined that this horrible new disease would not slow me down no matter what,” Anastasia said.

For the past five years, she has attended diabetes camp, which turned out to be a silver lining of living with T1D. She says, “I’m so grateful that my damaged pancreas brought me there to meet all the amazing people and learn so much about my health and T1D.”