Smashing effort by Team Allison
A Hamilton family are on a mission to raise awareness of a diabetes charity after their daughter was diagnosed with the condition.
At the start of the year, Katie Allison wasn’t her usual self – she felt lethargic and really thirsty.
Her dad Scott – who has type 1 diabetes – tested the 11-year-old’s glucose levels and immediately took her to hospital as they were off the scale.
The Woodside Primary pupil was admitted to Wishaw General with severe diabetic ketoacidosis and was subsequently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
Hospital staff praised Scott for acting so quickly. Katie was on high dependence care for two days and fortunately she then started to feel stronger and more like herself.
Katie’s mum Susan said: “We had two days of education from the wonderful diabetic team, which really was overwhelming.
“It’s such a lot of information to take in. We were terrified leaving hospital on day six, to start this new way of life on our own.”
Katie does not only need to inject insulin six times a day, she also has to match her carbohydrate intake to the correct dose of insulin.
It is a daily battle making sure her glucose levels are controlled, as she is at risk of hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia, both of which can be life-threatening. So many things affect her levels including exercise, puberty and illness.
However, she has totally embraced this new way of life and her family say she is so responsible and mature.
Susan said: “She mostly does it all herself, with a little help from us. As a family, we need to be so organised now for meal times, weighing food, counting carbs, having extra supplies in case of emergency and researching beforehand for restaurants.
“You really have to think of all eventualities. For example, on holiday, we needed hypo treatments, extra snacks, spare insulin, extra needles, spare insulin pens, an extra glucose reader and spare batteries for the meter.”
After Katie was diagnosed, the Allison family decided to fundraise for diabetes charity JDRF.
Susan said: “When Katie was poorly, the support we had from friends and family was amazing.
“We decided to take part in the walk for JDRF to help find a cure for type 1 diabetes. So we asked a few family and friends and Team Allison had a grand total of 105 take part on the day.
“This is the biggest team that the charity have had in the history of JDRF walks. Not only that, we set a target of £500 and absolutely smashed it, trebled it and raised an amazing £1865 so far!
“The day itself was amazing, everyone joined in on the fun and we felt so privileged as a family unit that all our friends and family were there supporting us.
“As a thank you, we invited everyone back to the house for tea and cake. We want to thank everyone again for the ongoing support that they have given us.
“We hope that we have raised awareness of type 1 diabetes and our fundraising goes some way to help finding a cure.”