Diabetes Walk highlights disease
HAMPTON TWP. Five children at Marian E. McKeown Elementary School have been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
| 16 Jan 2024 | 01:30
DI1 Students diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at Marian E. McKeown Elementary School pose with their families at the school-wide walk to highlight the disease Nov. 14. The students are fifth-graders Addison Garrigan and Miranda Camacho, fourth-grader David Santiago, first-grader Noah Biron and kindergartner Carson Pepe. (Photos provided)
World Diabetes Day, on Nov. 14, was observed at Marian E. McKeown Elementary School in Hampton Township.
Nov. 14 was the birthday of Dr. Frederick Banting, one of the lead discoverers of insulin, which is used to treat diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) affects about 1 in 400 people younger than 20 in the United States. At McKeown School, five children, of about 300 students there, have been diagnosed with T1D, formerly known as juvenile diabetes.
T1D can be diagnosed at any age, is a chronic condition and happens when an individual’s pancreas no longer produces insulin. It can be misdiagnosed because of lack of awareness and similar symptoms to the flu. There is no known way to prevent or cure T1D.
Parents of the five diagnosed children at McKeown created a school-wide walk to highlight the disease.
With the help from the administration and school nurse Jadrian Verheeck, the parents set up a balloon arch at the start of the walk, which was accompanied by motivational music and family members of the T1D students cheering from the sidelines.
For information about T1D, including signs and symptoms, go online to www.beyondtype1.org, www.jdrf.org or www.diabetes.org