Raising Awareness for Type One Diabetes in Naperville – Naperville Community Television

Posted on March 19, 2017

12-year-old Naperville resident Paige Laurinec was diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was 8-years-old.

Everyday I wake up and I know what I have to do, during the day Ive adapted to carrying a purse with me to hold all my stuff, when lunch comes around I know I have to check and count all my carbs, explained Paige Laurinec.

Its what she and around 200,000 children who are diagnosed with type one diabetes endure everyday as the disease stops their pancreas from creating insulin. That means they need to replace it to maintain their health.

Insulin actually acts to lower your blood sugar it does a lot of different things to allow cells to uptake blood sugar and through multiple different activities it allows us to control our blood sugar, explained Dr. Jim Lengemann, Co-Medical Director of Edward Medical Group.

Local business owner Debbie Kliegl wanted to do her part to raise awareness of the disease and help find a cure. So she hosted a fundraiser donating 30% of all proceeds from Yogurt Beach on March 14 to help kids in our area that suffer from the disease.

We want to connect with our community and make a difference, we want people to understand were here for them, were a business, yeah,but were here to help the community. They help us and we help them, we want to work together, said Kliegl.

While doctors arent sure how long finding a cure may take, mothers of Paige and five-year-old Cayden, who also suffers from the disease, are hopeful more people will become educated about type one and help fund researchfor a cure.

A lot of people just dont know the difference, like oh if you eat too much sugar youll get diabetes, its really not true, especially with type one. I just pray for a cure everyday and I try to educate as much as I can and get involved as much as I can, said Sue Laurinec, Paiges Mom.

I know that were leaps and bounds further then we were years ago so were all hoping that for a cure. I dont know if were ever going to find it but we just choose to support it and hope that Cayden will see a cure in his lifetime, said Amy Nottke, Caydens Mom.

A sweet dream for the future.

Naperville News 17s Alyssa Bochenek reports.

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Raising Awareness for Type One Diabetes in Naperville - Naperville Community Television