Annabel Grace Broadley

Age: 13, in Year 8 at Dubbo Christian School I have Type 1 Diabetes so I’m insulin dependent.

I have a Medtronic Pump,

it’s a small thing that attaches to me via a cannula. Instead of taking three needles a day, I only take one every three days. Before a meal, I put in how many carbs I’ll be eating and the pump provides the insulin that my pancreas no longer makes. It acts like an external pancreas for my body. The most challenging part is working out how many carbs are in the food each time I eat.

Type 1 Diabetes is something that lies dormant in your system but doesn’t get

triggered until a lot of stress or anxiety. There are lots of different triggers in the environment. Some people are born with the gene but don’t develop diabetes. For other people, something environmental interacts with the gene which causes the gene to switch off and stop the pancreas from working. I have celiac disease as well which is common with type 1 diabetes.

There is no family history of diabetes.

I was the first one in my family although there are a lot of other medical issues within our family. It is connected very strongly with auto immune diseases which are quite common in our family.

Before being diagnosed, I was sick and away from school all the time, I used the

toilet a lot and drank too much. I was really sick so Mum took me to the doctor and we had a blood test done. We went away on holidays before we received the results, and we came back on Christmas Eve and I found out that I had Type 1 Diabetes. We spent a week in hospital to get it all organised and settled, so we were in hospital until New Year’s Eve. The people at the hospital treated me really well.

I had no clue what Type 1 Diabetes was

when I was diagnosed, and I was so nervous because I had an extreme phobia of needles. I’m much better with it now and it does get much easier.

I’m basically the same person,

just with a bit of an extra thing attached to me. I don’t like running much, but I never really did. I find it hard to run with the pump on because it bounces around. It gets in my way with a lot of things. I try to push it as much as I can to do everything I love doing. I try to not let it get in the way.

The most challenging thing is the needles. Every time we have to do the needles. I have to do the finger pricking at least three times a day, usually before main meals.

My advice to others is: never give up.

Maybe it’s hard at first, but you can do it. Keep talking to people, don’t think you’re battling it alone because you’re not – that goes for parents too.

In the beginning you feel very isolated,

like it’s only happening to you, but you soon realise that there are a lot of people out there who are suffering from Type 1 Diabetes. You still function just the same, just with a few little quirky electronic devices.

- Interview & photo by Wendy Merrick