Star power.

摘要

ELEA FONUA is 12 years old, but he's already a successful musician with a budding career in reality television. He balances it all with homework, sports, and managing his type 1 diabetes. Lelea, of Phoenix, was diagnosed at the age of 7. Learning he had diabetes was overwhelming for the youngster. "I felt pretty sad because I had to give myself needle shots every day," he says. But within a week of diagnosis, Lelea was giving himself all of his insulin injections, and he soon switched over to an insulin pump. "I was scared, but I got over it." Going to an American Diabetes Association Diabetes Camp? just a few months after he was diagnosed really helped Lelea become more comfortable managing his diabetes. He participated in fun camp activities such as fishing, canoeing, and archery, and he also met lots of other kids who had diabetes, just like him. "I was the only one [with diabetes] in my school at the time," he says. "[But at camp] it felt normal, since everybody was diabetic." While still learning to count carbohydrates, Lelea started acquiring another skill: music. He picked up a ukulele and, with no formal training, began to pluck out his favorite songs from the radio. His dad has helped him along the way, but in the past two years, Lelea has mostly taught himself to play his favorite radio hits, including songs -by Plain White T's and Bruno Mars, putting a soulful twist on the popular jams. When Anne Dennis, senior manager of mission delivery in Arizona for the ADA, approached the Fonuas and suggested that Lelea become a youth ambassador for the Association, Lelea thought he might be able to raise diabetes awareness through his music. He has performed at Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes? events, as well as the Father of the Year Awards in 2012. He's appeared in television news spots, crooning tunes and promoting ADA events. "