Diabetic Fourth-Grader Skates for the Cure

Kirkwood 9-year-old and diabetic Raina Foley and her family performed in Nutcracker On Ice at Webster Groves Ice Rink and raised $500 for diabetes research.

Singer, ice skater, dog lover, diabetic — all these words describe fourth-grader Raina Foley, but she’s raised more than $20,000 to find a cure for one of them. Doctors diagnosed Raina with insulin-dependant diabetes, also known as Type I or juvenile diabetes, when she was 4 years old. Her parents went to her pediatrician when she couldn’t stop drinking apple juice, a symptom her body wasn’t absorbing nutrients, and her doctor immediately sent Raina to St. Louis Children’s Hospital after checking her blood sugar. "It was like being hit by a train," said Raina’s dad, Brendan. His wife, Kathleen, agrees. "We didn’t know anything," she adds. Now, Raina, who lives in Kirkwood, is managing her life-changing illness and living the full life of a…

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