New Suffolk Boy Stars With Mary Tyler Moore in Ads for Diabetes Cure

New Suffolk resident Jackson Gillies Cocciolone stars with celebrities like Bret Michaels of '80s rock band Poison, Crystal Bowesox from American Idol, and television icon Mary Tyler Moore in a new national Public Service Announcement for the Juvenille Diabetes Research Foundation.

According to his mother, North Fork Patch photographer, 12-year-old Jackson, doesn't let Type 1 diabetes slow him down. He played Nathan Detroit in "Guys and Dolls" at Vail-Levitt Theater in Riverhead last month, won two round-trip tickets to Paris from New York at the French Embassy in New York City last year, and sails at Old Cove Yacht Club this summer.

Jackson was the narrator in JDRF's Artificial Pancreas Project movie which can be seen on Youtube along wiht JDRF's "What Does Hope Look Like?" Public Service Announcement.

"Karen Brownlee from JDRF loved Jackson's enthusiasm," said Gillies.

Mary Tyler Moore is the International Chairman of JDRF and has spent much of her life coping with Type 1 diabetes — a disease affecting millions for which there is no cure.

"JDRF is our hope for a cure and the announcement of the new artificial pancreas project trial's success further ignited our hopes," Gillies said.

Check out the JDRF YouTube videos here.