Notable Neighbors

Kirkwood Teen to Compete for Title of Miss Missouri

Stephanie Patton is using the beauty pageant stage to educate people about diabetes, a disease she has managed since the age of 5.

Stephanie Patton had to grow up fast. At age 5 the Kirkwood resident was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes. Now 18, Patton hopes to raise awareness about the disease as she eyes the title of Miss Missouri.  The lifelong Kirkwood resident and senior at St. Joseph's Academy will compete for the Miss Missouri title in June after recently winning Miss Chesterfield Valley.  "Each constant is supposed to have a platform that she wants to raise awareness about. Mine is of course raising diabetes awareness and finding a cure in my lifetime," Patton said. She follows in the shoes of Nicole Johnson who held the Miss America title in 1999. Johnson has diabetes, and Patton remembers being inspired as a child. "I …

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Kirkwood Teen Wows Crowd As Mistress of Ceremonies

Kirkwood’s Stephanie Patton was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on her 5th birthday.

Q&A: Kirkwood Teen Works to End Diabetes

Stephanie Patton is being recognized for her efforts to fund research for juvenile diabetes. Patton was diagnosed with the condition on her fifth birthday.

Stephanie Patton, a 17 year old from Kirkwood, has been named a semifinalist in the 2012 search for a Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes. Patton, a junior at St. Joseph’s Academy in Frontenac, is one of 80 young leaders being recognized for helping make their community and the world a better place. Stephanie is the daughter of Cindy and Stephen Patton of Kirkwood. The student is a triple threat with her singing, dancing and acting and has raised more than $125,000 for JDRF-the global leader, primary advocate and leading charitable funder of T1D research, those suffering from Juvenile Diabetes. She was diagnosed with T1D type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes on her fifth birthday. Patton participates with the Arch City Theater Troupe (ACTT) …

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Kirkwood Mom Brings On the Cure

A Kirkwood family is helping organize a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation featuring the cast of Bring It On: The Musical.

(Editor's note: This story has been altered to correct spelling errors and to reflect the name of the organization: JDRF-Improving Lives. Curing Type 1 Diabetes. Story updated at 12:20 p.m.) A Kirkwood mother-daughter duo is helping to put on a fundraiser to find a cure for type 1 diabetes featuring members of the cast of the nationally-touring show Bring It On: The Musical. Cindy Patton and her daughter Stephanie, a junior at St. Joseph’s Academy, say they are ready to do whatever is needed to hit the $30,000 goal for the organization JDRF — Improving lives. Curing Type 1 Diabetes., at April’s Bring On the Cure fundraiser. “They say, ‘Can you do this?’ and I say, ‘Sure, if it’s going to help find a cure, I’m there with bells on,” Cindy …

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