Newport Coast teen raises money for diabetes research

A Newport Coast teen is set to donate 200 teddy bears with medical ID bracelets around their necks to Children's Hospital of Orange County next week.

Devon Cohen, who has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, has raised almost $30,000 for diabetes research.

The 13-year-old will speak in front of almost 250 people at his bar mitzvah Saturday in Costa Mesa and will read excerpts from an edition of the Torah that survived the Holocaust.

The bears and bracelets project was part of his mitzvah project, a social endeavor that Jewish children undertake.

Devon, a soon-to-be eighth-grader at Corona del Mar Middle School, celebrated his birthday Thursday.

A date for the official bears and bracelets donation ceremony at CHOC has not been set.

"I'm so excited for this. It's going to be amazing," Devon said Friday. "It's such a sense of accomplishment to know you're actually doing something good, when you know you can help people less fortunate.

"This happened because I just thought every kid with diabetes should have an ID bracelet. They can save the kids' lives if there's an accident. And the bears are for when they need to hug something. Sometimes everyone needs a hug."

Devon's mother, Kim Cohen, needed a hug a year and a half ago when he was diagnosed.

Unlike Type 2, which is caused by poor diet and lifestyle choices, Type 1 is unpreventable and genetically transferred. Five percent of people with diabetes have Type 1, according to the American Diabetes Assn.

Concerned by his severe fatigue at a soccer practice in September 2010, Devon's parents rushed him to CHOC's main facility in Orange. An hour later, he was diagnosed with the same disease his father, Brad Cohen, discovered he had at the same age.

"When I first got diagnosed, I got really depressed, but then I realized at least it's not something worse," Devon said. "I can deal with it on a daily basis. My dad has it and he deals with it just fine. He's had it for 30 years, and if he can deal with it, I can.

"He's done really well, built huge companies and has a successful life. He's my inspiration."

Elizabeth Beko — a certified diabetes educator and designated nurse at CHOC's Newport Beach office who has worked closely to help the Cohens, including 10-year-old twins Sydney and Zachary, transition with the disease — said Devon handled the news very well.