Anthem youth earns honor for volunteer work
MARC BUCKHOUT ~ MANAGING EDITOR ~ 7/8/2010

Anthem Page Skousen said one of her biggest mental hurdles in dealing with type 1 diabetes is the concept of feeling as though she’s
not normal.
“I have to take breaks sometimes from having fun with my friends to make sure my blood sugar is okay,” she said. “You get used to it, but it’s still a pain.”
Perhaps those feelings of being abnormal are warranted. But instead of thinking about it in a self-conscious way the Gavilan Peak seventh grader might need to think of abnormal as a compliment.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International would argue against Skousen being called normal, considering that a vast underestimation of the Anthem youth. Last month the 12-year-old was named the group’s Youth Volunteer of the Year.
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic (lifelong) disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to properly control blood
sugar levels.
“Once she was diagnosed we realized we had to be part of the fight for the cure,” Page’s mother, Tari said. “Finding a cure has been the main drive and she has that drive
within her.”
Unlike type 2 diabetes, which can be diminished through improved diet and proper exercise, type 1 lasts a lifetime.
In the North Valley Skousen, who was diagnosed at the age of 7, contributes to the cause through Anthem 4A Cure, a group of 10 youth in Anthem that all have type 1 diabetes, and their families.
The group is having a fundraising effort from 5 – 9 p.m. on Saturday with the help of Pinata Nueva restaurant, located at 3655 W. Anthem Way, which will donate a portion of the proceeds from sales to the group.
Last October the group raised $23,000 through various efforts leading up to representing Anthem in the Walk to Cure Diabetes at Tempe Town Lake.
Tari said that part of the mission is informing the public how big of an issue the disease is.
“I believe the stat is that one child is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes every five minutes,” she said. “JDRF is always looking for volunteers that live with type 1 to give a face to the issue. That’s the best way to help fundraising efforts.”
So while Page’s daily routine of checking her blood sugar, sometimes up to eight times a day, taking shots and counting the carbohydrates she ingests are all part of her routine so too are a host of events educating people about diabetes and encouraging them to donate if they can.
For the last couple years at her Anthem school Page has made an annual tradition of going around to the classes to educate her fellow students about diabetes.
Outside of Anthem she participated not only in the Walk to Cure Diabetes, but The Promise Ball gala event, the American Girl Fashion Show where she was a model ,as well as at the Barrett Jackson Car Show in January.
At the car show she rode in a 2010 Mustang that was used as the pace car during the Daytona 500. After riding shotgun, with NASCAR star Carl Edward, up onto the auction block Page spoke to those in attendance encouraging them to support the cause. The car would eventually sell for $320,000 with part of the proceeds
going to JDRF.
“I think it might be hard for her to grasp how many more wallets open up when she goes out and speaks,” Tari said.
Page said she relishes the opportunity to be a positive contributor to the cause.
“I want to help in anyway I can, whatever events they need help with I want to go to,” she said.
One goal the 12-year-old has is to be selected as one of two Arizonans to represent the state at Children’s Congress a little less than a year from now, scheduled for
June 19-22 2011.
Every two years, JDRF International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore and more than a hundred children (two from all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia) with type 1 diabetes gather in Washington D.C. to meet face-to-face with some of the top decision-makers in the U.S. government. As participants in JDRF’s Children’s Congress, they have the opportunity to help members of Congress understand what life with type 1 diabetes is like and why research to find the cure for diabetes and its complications is so critical.
Whether she gets selected or not the Anthem youth said she will continue to help the push for a cure while still finding time to be
a ‘normal kid.’
“A lot of people feel bad when they hear about what kids like me deal with,” she said. “I always feel really grateful when people decide to help. They’re helping
us find a cure.”
Along with being a spokesperson for garnering financial support for JDRF Page seems to be redefining what it is to be normal, raising the bar, as her version includes being a straight A student, a volunteer at Dreamchaser Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation in New River, a club softball player as well as a performer with Starlight Community Theater.