DANVERS — It’s not because her father runs a 1950s-themed ice cream parlor downtown that 6-year-old Wylinn Palmisano is battling juvenile diabetes.

“That was the whole thing like people thought, ‘Like, well, you own an ice cream shop, she must eat a lot of sugar,’” said Wylinn’s dad, John Palmisano, who has run Goodies Ice Cream on Maple Street in Danvers for the past seven years. “It has nothing to do with that.”

In Wylinn’s case, a virus probably caused her to become insulin-dependent and come down with Type 1 diabetes, forcing her to wear an insulin pump on her stomach under her shirt.

“She got sick, and then her body tried to fight it off,” John Palmisano said.

Now, this precocious bundle of energy has a condition that requires she and her family prick her finger to monitor her blood sugar levels several times a day, especially around meals.

“Boring, not good,” Wylinn said of her disease as she roamed about the shop after school last week.

Now, some in the community, called Friends of Wylinn’s Wish for a Cure, are planning a formal, black-tie-optional event on March 12 at the Danversport Yacht Club called “The Wish Ball,” with proceeds to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and his wife, Gail Huff, are honorary chairpersons, said organizer Linda Flaherty of Danvers.

About 35 children are diagnosed with diabetes every day in the United States, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Boston chapter. High-profile juvenile diabetes cases include Celtics star Ray Allen’s son and Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers pop group.

Many residents know John Palmisano, of Lynn, as the owner of Goodies, and one of the things he hears is the confusion between his daughter’s condition and Type 2 diabetes, a form of insulin resistance common among older and overweight people.

Wylinn has Type 1 diabetes, a condition in which the pancreas stops producing insulin at a young age. The body uses insulin to supply cells with sugar and regulate blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes can be turned around with diet and exercise, but Type 1 is incurable.

In Wylinn’s case, it may have been a virus that caused her body’s immune system to first attack her thyroid, which no longer functions, and then her pancreas.

“It’s autoimmune,” Palmisano said. “Basically what happens is when kids or young adults or whomever contract it, your body is basically attacking itself.”

Wylinn was first diagnosed at age 3 in April 2008, shortly before her fourth birthday. it was a Sunday, and the family was gathered at Palmisano’s mother’s house.

“She was drinking and peeing a lot, and my sister kind of just said, ‘Something is not right,’” John Palmisano said. Wylinn had become cranky, and some thought it was a phase she was going through because the family had just had a new baby boy.

That Monday, they took a urine sample to her pediatrician, and by that afternoon, Wylinn had an appointment at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“She had insulin injections that day,” John Palmisano said. Doctors told the family it was a good thing they caught Wylinn’s condition when they did before she became sicker.

“They were so happy we walked her in,” John Palmisano said.

The family learned how to give Wylinn injections by practicing on one another as they sat in a hospital conference room. At first, Wylinn was in the “honeymoon” phase of the disease when her pancreas continues to produce insulin. Eventually, her pancreas will cease making it. Wylinn has to receive insulin several times a day, and she wears a pump through which she receives it.

“It stinks,” John Palmisano said, “but there are worse things out there.”

At first, having the disease was tough on Wylinn. She would constantly question why she came down with it.

Since then, her family has fought back and participated in the Walk to Cure Diabetes in Boston. Money from the ball will go to the walk through Wylinn’s team, eventually be used to support research efforts.

Wylinn’s grandmother, Terry Palmisano of Gloucester, wanted to do something beyond the walk, so she created a pink tote bag that she sells that also comes with the warning signs and symptoms of Type 1 diabetes.

Now, the community is planning a ball to raise money for a cure.

“My mother and the friends we have in this community … are the people who are making a difference,” said John Palmisano, who credited organizer Linda Flaherty, members of the “Wish Ball” committee and his wife, Stefi, a graphic designer who has done a lot of work for the ball.

Flaherty said the ball will evoke “that sort of magical, whimsical princess-castle sort of feeling.”

What does Wylinn think about the community throwing a ball in her honor?

Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673, eforman@salemnews.com or on Twitter @DanverSalemNews.

What: The Wish Ball, a night of dinner and dancing

When: Saturday, March 12, 6 p.m. to midnight

Where: Danversport Yacht Club, 161 Elliott St., Danvers

Admission: $75. for more admission and sponsorship information, e-mail Flaherty at wishballcomm@aol.com.