The 9-year-old rising fourth-grader at Wakefield Elementary School is one of 150 students selected from all 50 states to participate in the fourth Children's Congress, an event sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The delegates, ages 2 to 17, were chosen from a pool of nearly 1,000 applicants by a selection committee of volunteers. The event will take place in Washington, D.C., starting Saturday and running through Wednesday.

Along with researchers, business and community leaders, the children will join actress Mary Tyler Moore, chairwoman for JDRF International, in reminding Congress about the need for more funding and research on diabetes. Under the theme "Promise to Remember Me," the group will also push Congress in support of stem cell research, according to a press release.

According to its Web site (www.jdrftriangle.org), 1.3 million Americans suffer from Type I diabetes, when insulin production in the pancreas is severely limited.

Danielle, who was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 4, plans to share her story about her day-to-day struggle with diabetes. She has to wear an insulin pump 24 hours a day and she has to have her blood sugar checked eight to 10 times a day.

She will have a recent event to relate: Danielle, had a seizure Monday night after going almost a whole year without one.

"I started shaking and they had to get tons of sugar in me," Danielle said.

"It just reminded us of how passionate we are about finding a cure," said her mother, Diane Adams.

Danielle, who wants to be a pediatrician, is excited about the trip. It's "an opportunity for her to interact with other kids who are similar," her mother said.