Spinifex Residential students have been sizzling sausages at Bunnings, raising money to help fund an insulin pump for 11-year-old Abby Stuart.
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Abby was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year.
Abby turned up on Saturday morning at the students’ final barbecue, to meet the students and thank them.
Although she would have dearly liked a sausage, she had to go through a 15 to 20 minute process before she could even have a taste, as her mother, Dianne Stuart explained:
“Every time she wants to eat anything at all, she has to take her blood sugars, so she works out her carbs, enters them into the metre, and then gives herself insulin via the needle,” Mrs Stuart said.
She does this at least seven times a day and has to take her blood sugars every two hours.
“No more needles would be a huge change for Abby,” Mrs Stuart said.
Senior Student Support Worker, Chely Burke, said the students wanted to help someone around their age, and Abby fit the bill.
“We had heard about Abby’s need, and approached the North West Hospital and Health Service to help find her.
“The students have worked very hard, and they really wanted to help out someone their own age who lived in Mount Isa.
How would an insulin pump make life easier for Abby?
“I think the honeymoon period is over for me,” Abby announced, lifting her head from her insulin pack, and went on to explain.
“The honeymoon period is where the pancreas sends out its own insulin, but now I think my body has just given up, and won’t produce any more insulin, so I’m completely dependent on the insulin I inject.”
According to Mrs Stuart, the pump looks like a pager and would sit on a belt by Abby’s back, with a tube running into a port in her back.
“So Abby will just enter the carbs into the insulin pump itself, and the pump will supply the insulin automatically through a tiny needle that is permanently in place through the port.
How is Type 1 diabetes diagnosed?
Abby was diagnosed with diabetes when their observant GP picked up on the fact during a routine visit that Abby was drinking a lot of water.
“I’d just commented that we would have to buy her another bottle of water on the way home, and he thought he’d better run some tests, and sure enough she had Type 1 diabetes,” Mrs Stuart said.
Abby was admitted to the Children’s Ward at Mount Isa Hospital where she stayed for two weeks while the staff stabilised her diabetes.
“The doctors and nurses up there were absolutely fantastic, you couldn’t fault them,” her mother said.
How close is Abby to her fundraising goal?
The family has so far raised $2,648 through various fundraisers around town, with Extra Mile and the Lions Club, through Abby’s dad’s underground mine work colleagues, who passed the hat around and raised $300, and through GoFundMe.
Abby said the cheapest insulin pump was $9,500. When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said very solemnly:
“I want to be a nurse and look after people who are hurt or sick.”
People can contribute to Abby’s insulin pump fundraiser on https://www.gofundme.com/abby-stuarts-insulin-pump.
