Jonathan Vogel recently spoke about his life with diabetes, helping raise $30,000 to fight the illness.

mamta popat / arizona daily star

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Jonathan Vogel has done more in seven minutes than most of us will do in our lifetime.

Jonathan, 11, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes three years ago and has since gone on a campaign to raise awareness and money for diabetes.

In June, the Orange Grove Middle School student stood in front of some 500 people at a Father's Day Council gala and spoke for seven minutes about his life with diabetes, a chronic disease in which the body does not produce enough insulin to control blood sugar levels.

His participation in the event helped raise about $30,000 for the Steele Children's Research Center at the University of Arizona.

"I just did a speech," Jonathan said. "It must have been pretty powerful. I don't believe it much myself."

Jonathan was first asked to speak at the Father's Day Council event in 2006. His father, Ben Vogel, is on the executive board of the Father's Day Council.

He spoke again in 2007 and helped raised $13,000.

Jonathan's parents feel an incredible sense of pride when they see their son on stage.

"I'm really taken aback and amazed by what he can do," Ben Vogel said. "His poise and self-confidence. He can hold an audience in the palm of his hand."

Added his mom Rosi: "When he's up there, it gives me hope that we will find a cure. He's working so hard and it makes me feel hopeful we will find a cure."

Ben and Rosi Vogel had an inkling their oldest son might have diabetes when a then 8-year-old Jonathan woke up one morning and informed his mother that he had urinated five times the night before.

The Vogel's youngest son, 8-year-old Daniel, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was just 2 years old.

Rosi Vogel recognized frequent urination as a sign of diabetes and used Daniel's meter to test Jonathan's blood glucose. Sure enough, it was high.

The family consulted a doctor and Rosi injected Jonathan with an insulin shot so her oldest son could compete in his first baseball game of the season. A couple of days later, Jonathan was diagnosed with diabetes.

"My parents say it didn't really bother me," Jonathan said. "I just wanted to go to my baseball game. It doesn't really affect me that much; besides that I have to test my blood sugar almost 11 times a day."

Jonathan and Daniel combined have pricked their fingers 15,000 times and have received more than 3,000 insulin shots.

Both wear insulin pumps to help keep blood glucose levels within a targeted range.

"I taught him how to connect the pump and disconnect it," Daniel said about his big brother. "I taught him the basic stuff that I know. Now he's more advanced because he's older."

Ben and Rosi Vogel encourage their children to take responsibility for their own care.

"They are very independent with their care," Rosi said. "My husband and I believe they have to own it. It's their disease. They are in control. We support them 100 percent."

The Vogels also are honest with their children about the complications associated with diabetes. "Knowledge is the best thing," Rosi said. "They both know about amputations. They both know about kidney failure. That's the reality."

It's a reality Jonathan wants to share with others.

Aside from speaking at Father's Day Council events, Jonathan has spoken at several Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, or JDRF, events. His mother is a member of the Tucson chapter's board of directors.

"He will typically get a standing ovation," said Jacque Thames, Tucson chapter president of the board of directors. "He's such a dynamic speaker. He enjoys getting up and speaking."

Jonathan also has lent his face and voice to lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the JDRF and the National Institutes of Health, an agency that conducts and supports medical research.

Despite sometimes being called "Senator Vogel," Jonathan doesn't quite have political aspirations.

He's a fan of the Miami Heat and would like to one day play professional basketball. "And then I want to be a chef and a scientist," he said.

He said he would consider running for office when his other careers ended. But for now, Jonathan is going to continue to bring people to their feet.

"I just want to create awareness so that people just know more about diabetes," he said. "So that people treat kids and adults with diabetes like normal people."