Marcia, still reeling from the incredible career high of participating in Australian Idol, is now preparing to perform at some summer concerts and keeping fit and healthy is part of that preparation.

‘I have a healthy lifestyle these days,’ she declares, in contrast to when she was first diagnosed with diabetes. At the time, 19 years ago, the gorgeous diva was feeling overweight, moody and frumpy.

‘I was big. I was a size16. I remember walking down the street one day thinking someone was following me. I looked in the shop window to see who it was and it was my butt!’ she jokes.

‘And my mum would tease me and say: “Your butt’s looking big.” And I’d say: “Whatever!” ’She shrugs at the memory.

‘But more importantly, I just wasn't feeling right. I was really tired and really
moody. I had shocking mood swings, I was always happy-sad, happy-sad.

‘It was exhausting. And I had an incredible thirst. I could drink 20 glasses of water in an hour. If I wasn't drinking water, I was rushing to the bathroom. I knew something was wrong, I just wasn't sure what.

‘If you're not bleeding or swelling, if you can feel it without seeing it, it can be that much harder to take seriously.

‘Finally mum went with me to the doctor and said: “Is my child dying?” After a few tests he said: “No, but she has diabetes.”

‘From that moment, Marcia had to learn how to inject herself with insulin every day, though she now prefers using the insulin pump, which she says is a ‘brilliant invention’.

‘But it took me a while to come to terms with what I had to do to help myself. I was in denial for a couple of years about it. I never used to eat regularly,’ she says.

‘Sometimes I wouldn't eat anything for breakfast or lunch, I was just too busy. But now I always eat regular, healthy meals. And I eat in moderation.’

Marcia now believes that her illness was a blessing in disguise.

‘I take so much more care with my health. I exercise every day – I rollerblade, cycle or walk the dogs -and I have eight hours sleep a night.

‘And I never miss a meal now,’ she says -all a far cry from her erratic, pre-diabetes lifestyle.

Hi, My name is William Borowiak and I am 12 years old.

I have been diabetic for two years and in January this year got an insulin pump. The pump is the best thing that has happened.

No hypos (well every now and again I get a bit shaky) but great control. I can eat when I want and can vary the amount I eat. It is fabulous.

It makes life a lot easier - more blood tests though but I have better control of my life.

Thanks Catriona (Regional Sales Manager, Southern Region – VIC/TAS/SA/WA).

This is a photo of me and my dog Pepe.

Harper started pumping with a Minimed paradigm 512 pump on September 22, 2004. We have never looked back.

The vast difference and improvement in our lives is immeasurable. We have another child too who is busy with school and sports, and Harper has alot of travelling to do to keep up with all her big brother's activities. The worry of being home at a certain time to eat is long gone. The freedom and choice it has given back is wonderful, and my husband and I now feel WE are in control, not the diabetes. Harper copes very well and doesn't even notice the pump is attached. In her first week of pumping, my husband and I noticed a difference quickly in Harper's behaviour, she appeared to be happier and more at ease with herself. I guess that happens with more acceptable blood sugar levels. Her next HbA1C was 7.4% and last week it was 7.3%. The acceptable average for Harper's age is 9.3% !

Hi, I’m Fabio and I have always enjoyed cycling. But in May 2001, aged 13 years, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Diabetes meant a lot of information to understand in a short time and a loss of spontaneity in my life, especially with simple things like eating or sleeping when I wanted. It meant two injections a day and eating to a schedule. My doctors at the time said I might not be able to keep training and cycling as before.

It was difficult to manage my cycling training because the intensity and duration of my training varied and so did the amount of insulin I required to keep my blood glucose levels within a healthy range. I was having too many hypers (high blood sugars) and too many hypos (low blood sugars). But, I was determined not to let diabetes deter me from being an endurance athlete at the state and national level.

This is a short resume about my medication for diabetes. I am Australian born (02-Nov-1920). At age 29 yrs I was diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes (14- Dec-1949).

I was started on Protafane insulin, 50 units per day. This lasted 3-4 yrs but after many severe hypos, I was changed to Protamine Zinc. This did not improve very much, and I still had many severe hypos. I was changed again to animal insulin Actrapid but still had many severe hypos, my diabetes was very unstable. I was on four needles per day, but still had severe hypos.

“Why I am so happy to have an insulin pump”

I was 33 years old when during my second pregnancy, I developed gestational diabetes. My baby was already very much alive and happily thriving. I delivered a healthy baby girl, but the diabetes stayed with me. As I was very happy to have the second child I was always a very positive diabetic trying to live a full life and tried to live according to the rules. Altogether I considered my diabetes more a nuisance than a calamity. By the time I turned 72, my diabetes was very hard to control. I had severe hypos (low blood sugars) during nights and ended up twice in a hospital suffering diabetic comas. I was desperate.

I talked to Dr Neale Cohen about it and he told me that some of his patients had good experiences with diabetic pumps. He handed me the papers and asked me to consider. Well, I had copies made for my family, enquired at my private health insurance about financial help for the purchase of a pump, informed Dr Cohen about my decision and waited impatiently for further developments.

My son Kye was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes September 21 2004. This day changed our lives forever. To be told that your child is going to have to have multiple injections daily for the rest of his life, when he is only 6 years old, is one of the most heartbreaking things you can hear as a parent. Not to mention the fact that he can no longer eat WHEN he wants to, no longer eat WHAT he wants to, and there is an amount of food that he has to eat, regardless of whether he is hungry or not. That was only the tip of the iceberg.

Kye suffers from needle phobia. This meant that every time he had his needle it was a fight. Usually involving me pinning him to the floor in all manner of positions in order to give him his insulin injection. This did not always go to plan as Kye would still wriggle and squirm in order to avoid his injection, and at times I missed Kye and stabbed myself with the needle.

Kye was a very active boy pre-diabetes playing basketball, football, swimming, surfing and anything else he could get involved in. We were determined that his diabetes would not stop him from doing anything. We were also told by all our medical experts that he shouldn't have to give up any sport he had done previously.

This was all very good in theory, but boy it was a lot of hard work. After nearly 12 months Kye's blood sugar levels were still not stable. We just had to monitor him more closely and do the best we could. This meant that the only time we met the target blood sugar levels was either on the way up or the way down.

We could never maintain a consent level. It also meant 2 hourly blood sugar testing, which continued throughout the night. As you can imagine after nearly 12 months of testing every 2 hours I was at my wits end. Despite every effort on the Children's Hospital medical team Kye's blood sugar just was not looking like stabilising. That's when my research into insulin pump therapy began.

Everything that I could find out about this therapy sounded like it was perfect for Kye and could be the answer to all our problems. HOWEVER the only place in Victoria that we could get an insulin pump for Kye was at the Royal Children's Hospital and the waiting list was 2 ½ years at that time. It is now I believe out to 4 years. The insulin pump was $8000 for the pump alone unless you had private health insurance, which we didn't.

Everywhere we looked we met with a brick wall, Kye had to wait another 2 ½ years!

My husband was the hotel manager at the local hotel and was mentioning this to a prominent community member. To cut a long story short our local community through a fundraising event raised the $8000 needed for Kye to get his insulin pump.

If it had not been for these wonderful people Kye would have continued to miss school, become sick, and be stuck in the VERY ridged routine that is involved with diabetes without and insulin pump, increasing his chances of further MAJOR complications when he is older.

Kye has had his insulin pump now for 18 months. He has his life back. He now can eat WHEN he wants to, WHAT he wants to, and there are no ridged meal times. His blood sugar levels are now stable.

Daniel was diagnosed with diabetes in July 2006, and despite the devastation the diagnosis always brings, he coped exceptionally well for a 13 year old. He adjusted well to a carefully controlled diet and the 4 injections a day, and it didn't stop him doing anything. Overall control was excellent and there was really no need to immediately look for a better treatment for health reasons.

However the family already had overseas trip to Ireland and England booked, and managing diabetes on a hectic travel schedule was a bit daunting. The advertised benefits of an insulin pump were very appealing: meals at odd hours, variations in carb intake, etc.

Hi,

My name is Zachary Clarke (call me Zach).

I am now 14 but I was diagnosed with Diabetes when I was 8. It was all pretty scary and I hated having needles every day. It took me a while before I could do them myself.

I am a cycling fanatic and this means I often spend hours at a time out riding. Most times I ride with groups of other like-minded fools but often I ride by myself, very early in the morning and often up into the hills of Perth.

Prior to going onto the REAL-Time Glucose Sensor I had many occasions when my blood glucose levels dropped very low. Because of the cycling and effort required to stay with the group or, if racing to get in front of the group, I was totally unaware of how low my sugar levels had dropped. Given that I am hypo-unaware it was a very dangerous position for myself and anyone I rode with.

So what did I do? I had no option really, I could stop competing and ride at a leisurely pace, stop and test my levels every hour or so. Or I could eat plenty of carbs get my levels high enough that I was in no danger of a hypo but therefore my levels were going to be very high every day I ride (6 days a week) and then spend all day trying to get control back.

And then along came the REAL-Time Glucose Sensor, this has changed my life. I ride and compete without any of the stress or danger. If my BG levels go below 4.5 [mmol/L] or whatever I have decided and set my pump to alarm at, I hear the alarm go off and the pump vibrates giving me a warning that I need to take action straight away. The groups of cyclists I ride with are no longer asking me if I am OK on long rides and on several occasions they have told me that the alarm is beeping when we are racing in a pack and I haven't heard it. I recently competed in the Menzies to Kalgoorlie bike race. 132 km through the outback and I dropped my chain at 18km. There is no stopping point and desert for the next 115km I rode the rest of the ride solo. My sensor was set to alarm a bit higher than normal because I could not afford to go low and I arrived at Kalgoorlie with a BG level of 7[mmol/L].

As I wrote earlier the REAL-Time Glucose Sensor has changed my life, It's now six months with the REAL-Time Sensor and I have not had one hypo since I started!! I cannot wait for the new [MiniLink] transmitter as I think it will make life even simpler.

Catherine Stephensen

Name: Catherine Stephensen
Born & raised in Melbourne, Vic.
One of 7 children – no previous family history of Diabetes.
Now have 2 brothers and 1 sister with IDDM all late on-set. Brothers developed diabetes in their 50’s in conjunction with or as a result of haemochromatosis, (iron overload).
Diagnosed IDDM: May 1982

I had been traipsing around Australia in 1980 and 1981, spending time in Darwin, working on prawn trawlers and then going over to Qld., where I met my future husband. We broke up after a while, and I returned to Melbourne, then we reconciled and I returned to Brisbane. Within a month I was diagnosed with IDDM. I was 25.

We married & I got pregnant a year after my diagnosis. There was very little fuss about it. One of my Doctor’s had advised me when I was first diagnosed, that if I was going to have children, I should start within a year before the effects of the disease took their toll on me! The only specific extra support I got during the pregnancy was to have scans done at 17 weeks then at 6 months and I was told this was being done as there was an increased risk of the babies of diabetic developing spina bifida. Not a very reassuring thing for a pregnant 26 year old 2000klms away from her mother & sisters. I had a great pregnancy – no morning sickness, just the occasional nausea while preparing dinner in the evening. Kristin was born by emergency caesarean section on Feb. 11th 1984. I completed my degree in Adult and Vocational Teaching and started a career in TAFE as a Horticultural Teacher at Townsville TAFE in 1993. I rose to the position of Director of Studies by 1999. I undertook my MBA graduating in 2000. I stayed in Townsville until my daughter finished high school, after which I relocated to Melbourne. I now run my own business as a Training Consultant.

During those years in Qld. I owned, bred & showed Appaloosa horses. I spent many lovely holidays trail riding and we would go away camping as a family as often as possible. I never saw the need to take insulin with me as an impediment to having fun and we worked out all sorts of schemas to manage to keep it cool in the hot Qld., climate. Within a few months of getting my insulin pump last year, I was off on the 9 day Great Victorian Bike Ride, which was one of the hottest & dustiest on record. I did my set changes in the tent, sitting on my sleeping bag with the gear spread out on it between my outstretched legs. (I did use the alcohol swabs). In the past 10 years I have ridden a motor bike from Townsville to the Barossa Valley, then to Melbourne & back up to Townsville via the east coast, camping gear & insulin in the saddle bags; Driven a 4WD with a horse float & horse from Townsville to Tamworth (NSW) for the National Appaloosa Championships, insulin in the esky in the back; Travelled extensively interstate on a weekly basis – fly out 6am Monday morning & home at midnight on Friday night for 6 months; Cycled in 3 x 200klm cycling events; been a cycling team member for HypoActive in the Murray to Moyne event & a team bus driver in the same event on a following year; Completed 2 Great Victorian Bike Rides in 2004 & 2006, taking the camping option & storing spare insulin in the caterer’s fridge; Ridden up Mt. Buffalo twice; Ridden & fundraised for the JDRF Ride for a Cure 2007 and am entered and fundraising again this year – http://ride.jdrf.org.au/ ;
This year I am planning a trip for 2008, on the Silk Road through China, Mongolia and Russia. This time I’ll take the train!

I was using injections and pens for nearly 24 years. From the mid ‘80’s I was on 4 shots a day. I was always pro-active in managing my dosage, but constantly frustrated by the difficulties in trying to achieve stable levels. I consistently ran HbA1C’s between 8.5 – 10 for all those years. Moving onto a pump has allowed me to achieve HbA1C’s of 7 and manage