A better life for sisters Holly and Harmony, both battling Type 1 Diabetes

My name is Corrie and I have 2 very special nieces, Holly (10yrs) and Harmony (9yrs). They both have Type 1 Diabetes, Holly has also just been diagnosed with Celia disease. Harmony was diagnosed when she was just a baby at age 1. She was very critical and was admitted into hospital. It took the Dr's 8 hours to diagnose her, and she was in DKA ( Diabetic Ketoacidosis, It is a potentially life threatening complication of Diabetes Mellitus). Her body was shutting down, she was unresponsive, not walking, not talking barely holding on. Her HbA1c was 150, ( This is a test to measure your average blood glucose over an approx 3 months. It measures how much glucose is stuck to your Red blood cells, Average is between 50-55 ). The Dr told them that if they had of been a day later Harmony may not of made it. My sister stayed in the hospital with Harmony, and her 12 week old sister for over a week. My sister found it so hard to inject my tiny niece but she new her life depended on it.

Holly was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in November 2017. Holly wasn't feeling very well, had lost heaps of weight and was very drowsy. A blood test done and to my sisters amazement she received the phone call that changed their lives once more. Since then Holly has also been diagnosed with Celiac disorder, and they had also found cataracts on both her eyes.

Diabetes is an autoimmune disease where your pancreas doesn't produce insulin anymore to regulate the amount of sugar in the blood. Low amounts of sugar can result in a Diabetic coma.

My sister Shea and my brother in law Glen have 5 children. Glen works a full time job to support his family, even working weekends. Shea is a stay at home mum, tending to all the kids, the girls medical needs, from doctors appointments to going to the school every lunchtime to administer the girls insulin. Dispute all their efforts, all the medical equipment to improve the girls day to day lives are sadly not funded. And what makes things worse is they are not cheap. The government does give the a small allowance but this only just covers the Iports they buy Holly to lesson the pain of doing her daily injections and a small amount of gluten free food.

The FREESTYLE LIBRE FLASH GLUCOSE MONITORING SYSTEM works in conjuction with the BLUCON to monitor glucose levels from afar using BluCons mobile app. This means the girls can attend school, sleepovers, Girls Brigade etc and mum can keep a track without stressing, if mum gets an alert then she can rush to the girls with the insulin.

https://www.mediray.co.nz/diabetes/shop/freestyle-libre-flash-glucose-monitoring-system/freestyle-libre-flash-glucose-monitoring-system/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0I-N2JGa2gIV2Q0rCh3CmAXoEAAYASAA

https://www.ambrosiasys.com/ (BluCon)

Until further technology is created this cost will be ongoing for Glen & Shea and their family.