16 The Noe Valley Voice • July / August 2019
N O E K I D S Jonah Cohen, Speaker in Residence By Katie Burke
O
n July 8, 11-year-old Noe Valley resident Jonah Cohen will travel to Washington, D.C., to represent California at a threeday event sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He will be among 160 kids from around the country lobbying their Congressional representatives for diabetes research funding. “I’m going there to help stand up for the Special Diabetes Program, which basically funds research for people with Type 1,� says Jonah, who became an involuntary expert on Type 1 diabetes after his own diagnosis two years ago. Jonah lives on Elizabeth Street with mom Jenn Pliner, dad Elay Cohen, and his 9-year-old sister, Tessa. Mom is a grant writer for a nonprofit, and Dad is co-founder and CEO of the tech company SalesHood. This school year, Jonah will be in sixth grade, and Tessa will be in fourth, both at Alta Vista in the Mission District. On Capitol Hill, Jonah’s message will be that dealing with Type 1 diabetes is really tough and kids shouldn’t have to go through it. “It’s like 75 percent of your brain is dedicated to that. You have just that other 25 percent, which is your life, which you want to be 100 percent,�
Jonah Cohen
he says. “Every single day, when I go out of the house, I’m like, ‘Am I carrying my
Photo by Art Bodner
bag? Am I carrying my bag? Oh my God, is my blood sugar high? Is it low? Oh my God. Oh my God, do I even eat candy? Do I need to give myself insulin? Aaaah!’� He’s hoping that with enough funding, the program will find a cure. The D.C. trip is not his first time advocating for diabetes research. Jonah has spoken at an executive breakfast at J.P. Morgan Chase with Salesforce president Mark Hawkins, a party at Palo Alto’s Cloudera with CEO Thomas J. Reilly, and a Mission Neighborhood Health Center gathering with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He honed his public speaking skills at home and at school. “My dad’s really good at presenting,� he says. “And at my school, we have these current event thingies, where we get news, and then we make a presentation in front of our whole class.� Jonah delights in the speaking gigs, but says he would prefer not to have the disease. The hardest part of having
diabetes, he says, is constantly checking his blood sugar, and not being able to eat popsicles at birthday parties. Jonah is active on the social media site Beyond Type 1. There, he connects with other kids who share his diagnosis. He says he wants to create a real-life group with his friend Olivia, a fellow San Francisco resident, whom he met through Brave Buddies, another digital support group. He also has many friends who do not have diabetes. He goes with them to Patxi’s Pizza, one of Jonah’s favorite Noe Valley spots. “They think of me like I did before I got diabetes,� he says. “They would probably describe me as funny, kind, nice. Just an average human, probably.� Some of Jonah’s other Noe Valley hangouts are Charlie’s Corner, Easy Breezy, the Noe Valley Farmers Market, Hi-Way Burger, and Bernie’s—“I like coffee,� he says. Jonah likes going to the beach with his family on sunny days, and vacationing with them in Toronto, where his dad grew up. Jonah and his family have also been to Spain, England, Scotland, and Japan. Four years ago, the family visited New York. “I forgot what I did [in New York],� Jonah says, “but I remember it was really fun.� The family is returning to New York again this summer. Jonah is working through a bar mitzvah study guide. When he turns 13, he will have a bar mitzvah celebration in San Francisco with his friends. Then he will go to Israel with his family. Jonah takes krav maga self-defense fitness classes and has played piano since first grade. He also has his own YouTube channel. He has a message for other kids with Type 1 diabetes: “Don’t be the kid who is two years into a diagnosis and still cries every day,� he says. “Don’t immediately let diabetes win.�
K
atie Burke is a writer and family law attorney, who lives where
Noe Valley meets the Mission. Her Noe Kids column features interviews with Noe Valley kids ages 4 to 12. In April 2020, Burke will publish a collection of profiles of San Francisco kids, titled Urban Playground (SparkPress). Know a great Noe Valley kid? Email katie@noevalleyvoice.com.
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