Oklahoma City native fighting illness one step at a time
HEALTH: Woman earns black belt, wins championships despite adversity

BRIAN KIMBALL Comments 2
Published: August 3, 2009

Despite doctors doubting she would ever be able to walk or talk, an 18-year-old Oklahoma City native has won three world championships in martial arts.

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"It’s a really disciplined sport, and it deals a lot with the brain and nerves. She’s overcome a lot of adversity to get to this point."
Raymon Morrison Lauren Morrison’s brother

Lauren Morrison was born with cerebral palsy and severe asthma, but she managed to beat the odds and even earned a black belt in karate.

Morrison wasn’t given much of a chance to become active, but she refused to accept that fate. With the help of her mother, Cherry, and older brother, Raymon, 21, Lauren learned at an early age that determination and hard work were the only way she could accomplish her goals.

"Through school, martial arts, cheerleading, dance, she’s never gone the easy route,” Cherry Morrison said. "I’ve always known that she was a very determined young lady, so I knew I had to be a determined parent to help her get through what she was going through.”

Lauren wore ankle-foot orthoses — think Forrest Gump’s leg braces, Cherry Morrison said — and slings for her arms to train her extremities to move the right way. But even as a 3-year-old, Lauren Morrison found ways to turn the corrective slings into slingshots, and she would often take off the foot braces so she could walk in shoes.

By the time she was old enough for elementary school, Lauren Morrison didn’t need the braces or slings anymore.

At age 5, she took up karate. Her family said it was what she learned from karate that has helped mold her into the person she is today.

"She’s learned to focus on a lot more things, accomplish a certain goal, and she’s gotten to where she is now as a black belt,” Raymon Morrison said. "It’s a really disciplined sport, and it deals a lot with the brain and nerves. She’s overcome a lot of adversity to get to this point.”

And after years of helping herself, now she’s taking every opportunity she can to help others.

She volunteers with Central Oklahoma Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Inc. and recently became part of the staff at the Memorial Park Boys & Girls Club of America.

She started going to the Boys & Girls Club when she was 7 and has been a fixture there ever since. Along with her mom and brother, Lauren Morrison has been putting on a karate class for kids at the club every Monday and Thursday since 2007.

Her efforts earned her recognition as the top member of the Boys & Girls Club in the city, state and region, and she was named the runner-up for the National Youth of the Year award. But even before that, she helped older staffers get a different perspective on life.

"When I think my back is against the wall, and I don’t think there’s any solution to a problem, Lauren taught me there’s always a solution,” said A-Jaye Johnson, unit director for the Memorial Park Boys & Girls Club. "She’s shown me that you just have to fight for it and do whatever you have to do to find that answer.”

In August, Lauren Morrison will begin attending Oklahoma State University. She plans to study sign language interpretation and translation. She hopes to teach sign language classes and come back to the Boys & Girls Club and continue to help out any way she can.

"I enjoy helping other people and knowing that I’ll be helped in the future. If you bless others, then you’ll be blessed yourself,” Lauren Morrison said. "There’s nothing like knowing that I can make someone’s life better.”