Help to get Isla a CGM

After being born 5 weeks premature and almsot loosing her life, my gorgeous baby girl Isla fought back and had been a healthy wee girl since. I thought we had all of our hospital visits and health problems behind us unitl Thursday July 16th, Isla only 25 months old ended up in HDU in Starship childrens hospital with blood sugar levels at 33 ( meant to be between 4-7 ) , severe dehydration- despite having consumed ALOT of water over the previous few days and a weight loss of 2.5kgs leaving her weighing only 12kgs. She was extremly unwell and deteriorated very quickly. My heart was broken, it was the most awful thing watching my baby girl lying in the hospital bed in such a bad way. The doctors got her started on IV fluids and started administering insulin and she started to slowly feel a bit better. When the doctors told us Isla has Type 1 Diabetes I was gutted and shocked, usually hereditory, there were no other family members who had the disease, in fact i realised I knew nobody with Type 1 diabetes and knew next to nothing about it. After an awful week in hospital and also juggling my 4 year old son who was extremly worried about his sister, we were able to bring Isla home, but home to a completely different/complicated life. Isla at only 2 years old is insulin dependent- she needs insulin in order to survive and will be insulin dependent for the rest of her life. Her pancreas is not providing her body with insulin anymore. Isla needs to be injected in the morning half an hour before her breakfast and immediately before her dinner. We need to prick her finger to test her blood sugar levels 5-6 times per day including overnight when I have to set an alarm to wake myself to do so which also causes Isla to wake upset to have been woken for yet another test. It is exhausting! Our days now consist of scheduled meal times, counting carbohydrates in the food she consumes to ensure she is getting enough to try and maintain her glucose levels, watching how much physical activity she does and constantly looking for signs that she is having a hypo (glucose levels go below 4). Everyday is different, she has already had alot lows (hypos) which causes her to turn pale, shake and become very vacant when this happens we need to act fast to be able to bring her levels back over 4 to avoid her having a fit, as well as alot of highs which causes her to become very aggitated and upset. It is difficult. I would in a heartbeat love to take Islas place and and be the one with Type 1 Diabetes but it is not possible so my job as her mother is to try and control this disease and keep her as healthy as possible to avoid any further health complications. My aim is to raise enough money to be able to purchase Isla a CGM ( continous glucose monitoring system ) which is a device that she would wear which reads her glucose levels continuosly every 5 minutes and would set off an alarm when her blood levels went to low or to high which would allow me to attend to this immediately. It would mean Isla would not need to be woken every night to have her blood tested and would give me the peace of mind being able to monitor her levels 24/7, I am barely sleeping at the moment as I am so anxious Isla is going to have a hypo whilst she is asleep and fall into a coma as this can be detrimental to her health. It would allow Isla to return to daycare with her brother and her friends and give her teachers the confidence to be able to care for Isla and know what her levels are at all times , which in turn would assist me in returning to work , aswell as assissting Isla once she starts school. It would give us much more freedom as a family as we wouldn't be as restricted to times etc we could leave the house , she would be able to participate in more activities just like her big brother, And most of all this device could save her life. It really would make the world of difference.But unfortunately due to the cost, it is financially out of reach for us. Costing $1000 for the receiver and $950 for the transmitter and a further $125 per week for the sensors, it adds up very quickly costing over $6000 per year to run. So here is where I have come to ask for help- help to save Isla's life and allow my normally happy, vibrant 2 year old daughter to gain back a bit of normality. It really isnt fair that a girl so young has been stuck with this awful disease for the rest of her life and I worry and fear constanlty for her, I wish I could take it all away. So please, for an amazing little princess if you can make a donation to help us on our battle and to help brighten Islas future and keep her alive we would be forever grateful.

Jess