Insulin pump will transform paediatric diabetes care on the Sunshine Coast

When Wishlist’s Communications and Media Officer, Kirra Livingstone was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes nearly two years ago, her life changed.

She was faced with the reality she would have to manually administer insulin as her pancreas no longer produced insulin on its own, which regulates blood glucose levels.

In the first few months after diagnosis, Kirra managed her auto immune condition through at least four daily injections with an insulin pen – every needle stressed her out.

“If I could avoid doing an injection, I would,” Kirra said, “because they would pinch my skin, or leave sores and bruises on my stomach, and I didn’t feel comfortable injecting in public.”

Kirra was lucky enough to access an insulin pump, which not only improved her blood glucose levels, but gave her peace of mind around managing diabetes.

Thanks to Wishlist, children with Type 1 diabetes on the Sunshine Coast will soon be able to loan an insulin pump from the paediatric diabetes ward while they wait for their own.

Clinical Nurse Consultant at SCUH, Selena Newman who applied for the Wishlist grant said the pump is a gamechanger.

“Access to an insulin pump really helps decrease the burden of living with diabetes,” Selena said.

“Living with the condition has a lot of complexities and it is quite a challenging condition.

“It was a good day when we found out it’s been funded, because we’ve had a lot of new diagnoses this year, it’s been a really big year for us.”

Multiple daily injections can be difficult for diabetics for many reasons, including pain, the perceived stigma of using needles, and having to carry insulin pens, needles and sharps containers.

Kirra said she struggled with daily injections as a 22-year old, and she can’t imagine what it’s like for children.

“Even though I was an adult when I found out I had type 1 diabetes, I remember how traumatic it was to have multiple daily injections – this insulin pump will change lives.”