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Tonganoxie youth taking on diabetes with help from friends

By Shawn Linenberger - | Oct 9, 2015

Contributed photo Tonganoxie Elementary School fifth-grader Corinne Morgan, third from left, stands with friends at Sonic. Corinne and her friends will be serving as car hops Friday to help raise money for diabetes research. Corinne's Crew then will participate in a walk Saturday at the Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City, Mo. Pictured, from left, are Taylor Rantz, Jenna Witt, Corinne, Ally Rawlings, Katelyn Bothwell and Alaina Rogers.

A Tonganoxie youth with type 1 diabetes is raising money for a foundation focused on research and residents can help out at a local restaurant.

Corinne Morgan, 10, a Tonganoxie Elementary School fifth-grader, will be serving as a carhop with friends from 4-7 p.m. Friday at Sonic Drive-In restaurant.

All tips and 10 percent of sales during that three-hour window will go to Corinne’s Crew, which will participate in Saturday’s Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk. The event starts at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Truman Sports Complex, the home of the Kansas City Royals and KC Chiefs in Kansas City, Mo.

Corinne’s family and friends will be participating in their sixth annual walk.

Corinne was diagnosed Aug. 16, 2010, with type 1 diabetes, which accounts for about 5 percent of all diabetic diagnoses, according to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes. The other 95 percent typically can be treated through diet, exercise and oral medications.

Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disorder in which the body attacks and destroys the pancreas, eliminating the production of insulin. Without insulin, the body is unable to pass sugar from the blood to the cells, which can lead to organ failure and death.

Though there currently is no cure for type 1 diabetes, synthetic insulin and an insulin pump allow Corinne to manage her diabetes, according to her parents, John and Kris Morgan.

So far, Corinne has had approximately 18,500 needle pricks to her fingers to check blood sugar levels, and has been dosed more than 55,000 units of man-made insulin, according to her Corinne’s Crew site at jdrp.org.

She can ony have limited pieces of candy during various holidays and her pancakes and syrup are now measured and limited.

“As a kid, I can’t imagine not being able to partake in all the ‘fun’ of being a kid and just eating whatever and whenever I wanted,” Kris Morgan writes on the Corinne’s Crew page. “However, Corinne has been quite the trooper. She doesn’t complain, and she accepts the hand she’s been dealt. Without her grace and understanding, our lives would be so much more difficult. We’re blessed to have her as our daughter.”

As of Tuesday, the group has raised $90 of its goal of $1,000. Local residents can assist through Friday’s Sonic fundraiser, at Saturday’s walk or by donating on the website.

For more information, go to the jdrp.org and click on “donate.” From their, type in Corinne’s name to get to her page.