Celeb: Paul Sparks, the actor known for roles as bootlegger Mickey Doyle on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and writer Tom Yates on the Netflix political drama “House of Cards.”
Sparks recalled being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 28 and managing it during his early career as an actor by stashing packets of sugar in the pockets of stage costumes and chugging bottles of orange juice onstage (especially awkward, he noted, in a period drama).
Cause: Boosting funding for diabetes research.
Scene: A Senate Aging Committee hearing, where in addition to the usual crowd in suits, a gaggle of kids sat cross-legged on the floor Wednesday in front of the witness table (the session was part of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Children’s Congress). Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the committee, greeted the witness — whose wife, actress Annie Parisse, and two kids sat behind him — with a fact check of the occasionally homicidal drama on “House of Cards.” “Washington really isn’t like that — I want to go on record,” she said.
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Soundbite: Sparks, sporting a scruffy beard and a Senate-ready suit, kicked off with a confession: “I’m totally nervous.” He later added the self -deprecating, “I don’t even play a doctor on TV.” But he found his footing when he shared stories of how advances in diabetes treatments — he now uses a insulin inhaler and a continuous glucose monitor — have improved his life.
“These technologies … and other research advances literally save my life every day, and they save the lives of all these delegates,” he said. “We are on the cusp of a new generation of therapies and devices and, hopefully, a cure. That’s why we can’t let up — we need to cure Type 1 diabetes … so all of us can live a life and not think about the disease all the time.”
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