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Morrison offers hope

Charlotte's Adam Morrison has spent the off-season as a role model for youth, here helping basketball players in Shanghai, China, and Monday testifying at the JDRF Children's Congress. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Drew Costley USA Today
Charlotte's Adam Morrison has spent the off-season as a role model for youth, here helping basketball players in Shanghai, China, and Monday testifying at the JDRF Children's Congress. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

WASHINGTON – The Charlotte Bobcats’ Adam Morrison said Monday that playing in the NBA with diabetes was slightly harder than during his college career at Gonzaga.

“The longer season and the raised level of competition makes it a little tougher,” he said. “There isn’t that much difference between college and now, though.”

Either way, his basketball success has made him a role model.

“There should be more people in the world like him,” said Johnnie Elliott, a 16-year-old with diabetes.

Elliott was one of 150 children who met Morrison and other professional athletes Monday at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) Children’s Congress in Washington.

A panel featuring Morrison and athletes from the NFL, LPGA and NASCAR shared their stories of achieving goals despite the disease. According to the American Diabetes Association, 176,500 juveniles had been diagnosed with the disease as of 2005.

“I enjoy talking to these kids and giving them advice. But also I want everyone to know that I am still learning and I am affected by this disease,” Morrison said.

Morrison was speaking at the event to raise awareness. He averaged 11.8 points, 2.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game last season.

“I think we’re close” to being a winning team, Morrison said of the Bobcats, who have the eighth pick in this year’s draft.

Dr. Aaron Kowalski, the director of strategic research projects for JDRF, said the challenge for diabetic athletes is to keep their blood sugar as close to normal as possible. He said they show “a constant vigilance … to make sure they’re healthy and alert to compete.”

Morrison said he tests the level of his blood sugar six to nine times daily and has learned to be completely comfortable with his body and trust his blood sugar levels in recent years.

He does not view the disease as a hardship, “but it was more of a way to keep myself on track. I looked at it as another way to be disciplined.”

Elliott, who plays varsity basketball at Woodlake (Calif.) Union High School, said Morrison is a role model and hero.

“I just started crying,” he said about reading a Sports Illustrated for Kids article about Morrison’s disease.

“It was so amazing to find someone who is dealing with the same thing I am.”