LIMESTONE – An Aroostook County girl suffering from juvenile diabetes hopes the U.S. Congress will listen this week when she asks lawmakers to help pay for more research into the causes of her illness.

Kate Farrell, 11, plans to make her request when she travels this week to Washington to the Children’s Congress 2001 during the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.

With Type 1 diabetes, the body stops producing insulin, which is needed to distribute sugar to the body’s cells. Patients can easily slip into a coma or die if treatment is not a daily constant.

Kate will join Andrew Webber, 13, of Steep Falls in southern Maine in representing the state in the annual event. Two children from each state who suffer from Type 1 diabetes will be at the gathering to remind President Bush and others of the need for a cure to the disease that children daily combat.

“It’s really awful to have it,” Kate said Saturday during a telephone interview on her way to Washington. She said she wants the senators and representatives to know what everyday life is like for her.

Kate has learned to give herself insulin shots four times a day and test her blood for its sugar content five times daily.

According to Kate’s mother, Karen Farrell, her daughter’s diagnosis came last year.

“We noticed she was drinking a lot of water,” Karen Farrell said.

After checking with a doctor, the diagnosis was made and Kate was immediately hospitalized to stabilize her condition.

There is no history of diabetes on either side of Kate’s family, according to Karen Farrell.

At first, Kate said, she was scared of what her life would be like with diabetes, which will be a lifelong condition unless a cure is found.

When their daughter’s condition was diagnosed, Kate’s parents, both teachers, began researching the disease on the Internet and in books.

“We wanted to know why this happened,” said Karen Farrell. “What could we have done? Did we do something wrong?”

The family joined the Diabetic Research Foundation, which is paying for Kate and one of her parents to travel to this week’s gathering.

“It’s very scary for us as parents,” said Karen Farrell. “We don’t let her spend nights at friends’ houses. It cramps her style with her mother and father following her around.”

However, Kate’s diabetes hasn’t kept her from attempting an active life. She plays basketball, baseball and soccer in Limestone.

Sen. Susan Collins is the congressional co-chair of the Children’s Congress. During the four-day event, the 200 children, ages two through 17, will visit members of Congress and go to a congressional hearing where celebrity advocates, researchers, business leaders and some child delegates, including Webber, will testify.