Aid For Aven's First Year With T1D

Hi everyone, my name is Shannon Wilson and along with my friends Amanda Taekema and Jen Alexander, we are asking for your help in raising funds for a beautiful local family who are very close to our hearts; The Nunans. This amazing family of 5 is always the first to step up and help others but this time they need our help...

On Sunday May 23rd, Shelby Nunan took her middle child, 6 year old Aven into urgent care after a week or so of noticing Aven wasn't herself. She had lost quite a bit of weight, she didn't want to play with her sisters (Quinlan, 8 and Evelyn, 2) or go to gymnastics and she was very emotional and on edge. At first Shelby and husband, Eddie thought these signs and symptoms may have been related to the fact Aven was diagnosed with Selective Mutism and Separation Anxiety Disorder in February but had a feeling that maybe there was something physical going on.

Within the first hour of them being at urgent care the nurses and doctors had already given Aven a possible diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. They were quickly advised that they would be transferred to the paediatric ward at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital where Aven was officially diagnosed with T1D and underwent many rounds of bloodwork, finger pokes and her first doses of insulin.

After 4 nights in the hospital Aven was discharged and began her T1D journey at home under the care of her parents.

Aven gets glucose level checks before breakfast/lunch/dinner/bedtime snack and at 3am. She gets insulin injections with breakfast/lunch/dinner/bedtime snack and extra as directed from her health team. In one day Aven gets at least 9 needle pricks including the glucose testing.
Her meals and snacks are timed out and she has to be super strict about her carb count as her body hasn't quite yet levelled out from the sickness and weight loss. Her care plan has to be constantly changed and monitored by her parents and health team especially within the first year. 

A lot of the cost right now is unknown but for the most part her supplies and insulin are not covered. Shelby has had to put work on hold until at least midsummer, maybe longer depending on how the next round of bloodwork goes for Aven as they have to rule out secondary diseases that usually go hand in hand with T1D such as celiac disease.  Her husband Eddie works full time but with the medical bills adding up your donations would make it possible for him to be present at the health appointments and be able to take a day or two as needed to give Shelby some down time. As you can imagine this is so tough on the whole family especially the main caregiver.

Aven is not only strong, smart, funny, beautiful and a fierce red head, now she is also the most amazing T1D warrior you’ll ever meet! We will keep you all updated on how she is doing as the family navigates the next few weeks. Thank you all!  

For more information and to learn the difference between T1D and Type 2 Diabetes please checkout this link:

https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/uq1217abc