Age: 10
Age at T1D diagnosis: 4

Samantha likes swimming, playing basketball and writing stories. From the day she was diagnosed, Samantha and her family have had a great attitude about living with T1D. She says, “We knew nothing about this disease, but we did know we would not let it win!” Each year, Samantha has a yard sale to raise money for her JDRF One Walk team, which has raised almost $25,000 to date. Samantha wants to be a writer when she gets older. She explains, “I do have some great stories about living with T1D and some awesome fiction too. I look forward to writing about a cure for T1D!”

Pinellas girl, 10, to address Congress about juvenile diabetes / News 13 / July 24, 2017

Bay Area girl heads to DC to lobby for type 1 diabetes research / Fox 13 / July 19, 2017

T1 Tween to Lobby Congress / The Island Reporter / July 4, 2017