Help Harvey live his best diabetic life

Hi, my name is Heidi and I am raising money to help cover the costs of type I diabetes management for my 4-year old nephew, Harvey.

 

Many of you may know that it is possible to live a full life with type I diabetes, but what most people (myself included) might not know about are the costs associated with treating and managing diabetes for a lifetime.

 

Harvey was diagnosed when he was 3 years old (2020) and has since trialled several glucose monitors to try and find one that provides the best management of his disease. He currently has a G6 glucose monitor, which he calls his robot. It costs $330 a month. It enables his parents and other family members to monitor his glucose levels via an app in real-time and reduces the amount of finger pricking required (which no child enjoys). It helps provide better insulin management which keeps his blood glucose more steady throughout the day and sets off an alarm on connected phones when his glucose is too low - which is very dangerous. Alternative medicare-covered monitors require many finger pricks a day and do not automatically sync to phones or set off alarms as they should (tried and tested).

 

The next cost is a $400 a month automatic insulin pump 'Omnipod' that would eliminate the need for insulin injections. It provides smaller doses of insulin throughout the day to keep his levels more steady and meal-time doses can also be managed through an app. My brother, Andreas (my brother) is currently the sole income earner for his family, which also now has a 4-month old new addition, Maverick. Not only is looking after a baby difficult, but looking after a small child with type I diabetes at the same time really tests your limits. Not only do you need to check glucose levels in the middle of the night, every night, but also get up at all hours to feed or calm a baby. While diabetes is manageable, the management is by no means easy. It is a roller-coaster ride to say the least.

 

So basically, to have a child with diabetes and to provide them with the care they require and deserve in order to live their best and healthiest , fullest life - which the rest of us with a working pancreas get for free - you are required to pay $730 a month. That is a lot of money just to keep living. That is a lot of money on top of a mortgage, bills and car repayments. It's more than I could afford to live and I don't have children, a house or a car.

 

So I have decided to try and raise what I can between now and March 2022 to help pay for his glucose monitor and hopefully make the Omnipod insulin pump more affordable for my brother. I am currently training for the Ironman 70.3 in Melbourne in March 2022 and my goal is to achieve this in under 6 hours. That's no walk in the park, it's a 1.9km swim, followed by a 90km bike ride and a 21.1km run. My motivation is Harvey and your donations. I will donate $100 a month from October until March. Your generous donation, no matter how big or small would be the greatest gift of all, and I hope that I will have something very special to give Harvey for his 5th birthday on the 17th of March! I will provide updates of my fundraising and training progress on my instagram [email redacted]auss

 

Much love from Heidi and Harvey ♡♡♡