In January 2006, my world change forever.
I had one little girl, Robin, who had recently turned 2. She had been a bit under the weather for a week or so. I was a bit concerned, so I booked her an appointment at the doctors. She had recently lost a bit of weight, but I put this down to a growth spurt. She was eating loads, but this could also be explained by the growth spurt. She was drinking alot and weeing alot. She had a cold, and you can be thirsty when you have a cold! All of these things could be explained. But there was Something that I could not put my finger on. Looking back, I think I was being a bit dense!!
So, off I went to the doctors. The next thing we know, we are in the High Dependancy Unit and I am the mother of a diabetic. But surely only overweight children get diabetes? What had I done wrong? The guilt I felt was amazing. Next came panic. What will we do? How will we cope? Will she live a normal life?
The Answers to my questions came, some quickly, others over time. Nearly 2 years on and I have realised that even though my life changed forever, it could have been worse!!
My little girl is amazing and every day I take my hat off to her. She has had a bumpy start in life and the road ahead is far from smooth. We lead our lives as normally as we can. I was fairly adamant on this. And I try not to draw attention to Robin's diabetes. Yet, it is always with us.
I have found that, while there is plenty of medical help for families dealing with diabetes, there is not much in the way of everyday support. Sometimes I have felt quite isolated and unable to talk plainly about diabetes and the way it effects us, as many people are scared of it, or do not understand.
I have made a decision to build a website to help bridge the gap. I am not here to give advice, or tell anybody the best way of doing things. I would like this website to be used as a form of communication and support for families out there dealing with diabetes. I have set up a forum (Lets talk!), where questions can be asked and suggestions offered, support can be asked for and given. If there is anything else that you think would be useful or a good idea, let me know and I will see what I can do....... stick with me as my technical knowledge is not that brilliant and I am a very busy mum! Please help me to build a website for us, The parents behind the diabetic children!
