HEALTH & BEAUTY
Living with Type 1 Diabetes
When you become a parent, you also inherit a lifelong worry for your child. Are they meeting their milestones? Will they make friends at school? Are they having too much screen-time? What about if they learn to drive – will they be safe? Parental instinct is to want to hold your child close and protect them forever.
However, if your child has type 1 diabetes, those feelings are ramped up by additional challenges and the fear that just five minutes could be crucial for your child’s safety and wellbeing. But 13-year- old Darcey Wheater lives beyond those fears and won’t let diabetes stand in the way of her life. To raise awareness of the condition, Darcey and her mum Jill, from Rotherham, share what life is like for diabetic children and their families. Darcey was diagnosed with diabetes just before her eighth birthday which came as a bit of a shock for her parents. There was no family history of the condition, neither did they know much about it. But Jill had noticed concerning changes in her daughter and knew something wasn’t quite right. “The symptoms of type 1 diabetes are the four
Ts: toilet, thirsty, tired and thinner. Darcey had all of them. She lost a lot of weight and could guzzle ice cold water like nobody’s business. We were going through some family bereavements at the time so initially I wondered if that was why she was being irritable - maybe even hormones,” Jill says. Their family GP requested a urine sample to rule out any health concerns and, if clear, was recommending grief counselling. A few hours after
‘‘you can’t predict who will develop type 1 diabetes and you certainly can’t prevent it.’’
handing the sample in, Darcey was admitted to Rotherham Hospital’s children’s ward for urgent diabetic treatment. Naturally, parents of children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes begin to question whether any factors are to blame, such as lifestyle or genetics. But, as doctors reassured Jill and her husband, you can’t predict who will develop type 1 diabetes and you certainly can’t prevent it.
It’s an auto-immune disorder whereby the body attacks the cells in the pancreas which make insulin, the hormone which regulates blood sugar levels. It is a serious and lifelong condition for which there is no cure or reversal; around eight percent of people with diabetes have type 1. The majority of people with type 1 diabetes will be diagnosed in childhood. But common colds, growth spurts, hormones – and adrenaline from adolescent emotions – means diabetes management through childhood needs constant adaptation and adjustment. The highs and lows are both real and metaphorical. For parents of younger children, they take on the imperative task of planning and organising the day ahead to manage their child’s condition and keep them safe. Any carbs that are eaten must be counted (or guesstimated) and exercise has to be factored in to adjust the amount of insulin needed each day accordingly. It’s like a technical science that can be difficult to fathom for most people looking in. Yes, it becomes a way of life but the Wheaters never wanted diabetes to control family life or define Darcey as a person. They wanted to make life as normal as possible for their daughter and clear up any misconceptions about diabetes along the way.
“Ever since we got the diagnosis, the local health service has been amazing. The paediatricians and diabetes nurses at Rotherham were so encouraging and answered the many
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aroundtownmagazine.co.uk
‘‘We say yes to most activities Darcey wants to try and she loves swimming, playing netball, going to her local Guides group and on trips with school.’’
questions we had, particularly in the early days. “They were always very keen for us to let Darcey be a child. We never changed her diet because what child doesn’t enjoy pizza and cake. We say yes to most activities Darcey wants to try and she loves swimming, playing netball, going to her local Guides group and on trips with school.” In the five years since Darcey’s diagnosis,
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