Second Annual Texarkana Walk For Diabetes August 1

The One of Kind Diabetes Program will host its second Texarkana Walk for Diabetes on Saturday, August 1, at Spring Lake Park. Kayce Welch, who is a Texas High School student, developed this 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization a year ago. Registration will start at 7 a.m. at the pavilion by the lake. The walk will be at 8 a.m. Registration forms are available at Avada Hearing Center on Summerhill and Minton's Sportsplex on Richmond Road.

The cost to walk is $10 and to receive a t-shirt the cost is $25. Pre-registration is now under way and remember you must be registered to walk in this event.

All money raised will benefit activities for the One of a Kind Diabetes Program in Texarkana. This year, through the Black and White Soiree, they were able to donate $13,000 to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, as well as pay for the K.I.D.S. Day Camp ($5,000)

It's been a great year for Texas High School student Kayce Welch, who was recently selected as the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards Distinguished Finalist for 2015. Nine additional students in the state were honored with this award along with two state honorees. An estimated 25,000 students across the country were considered for state-level recognition.

Listen to Kicker 102.5 during my show on Wednesday afternoon, July 15, as Kayce will be stopping by to tell us more about the upcoming walk. And by the way, Happy Birthday to Kayce who will be celebrating her 18th birthday!

The Kayce Welch Story

In 2007, Kayce Welch underwent a four-hour back surgery for scoliosis. The nine year old had a 48 degree curve. A year and a half later, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Her life would never be the same.

She recalls one night in Arkansas Children's Hospital when both she and her mother cried. "I remember asking, 'why?' What else was I going to have to deal with?"

It was that summer she attended the K.I.D.S. Day Camp for the first time. The camp is free for kids ages 6-18 with diabetes. "I felt normal again. Through the week at camp I learned how to live with the disease."

In 2012, at age 15, Kayce had a surgery to remove the first rods that grew as she grew, and put in permanent rods. Kayce's orthopaedic surgeon told her that traditional surgeries would have required a surgery every six months until she stopped growing, which would have been 20 - 30 surgeries. Unfortunately, she developed a staph infection - a complication of diabetes following the surgery. Through the next 10 weeks she would undergo two additional surgeries. In addition, she took 3,000 mg of antibiotics for six months to combat the infection.

In November, 2013, Kayce said she finally came to realize that something needed to be done in Texarkana to increase awareness and education about Type 1 diabetes in the area. "I named my program 'One of a Kind' because I truly believe God has allowed me to have diabetes to be the one of a kind who does something to find a cure for diabetes."

Kayce, daughter of Robin and Randy Hilton, created the “One of a Kind” project to help raise funds and awareness of juvenile diabetes, the disease she was diagnosed with since the age of 11.