I am a brittle type one diabetic and like Terri Kennedy's son, I use an insulin pump to control my blood sugars to avoid further diabetic issues, which I seem to suffer with.
I need funding for an insulin pump and am having a heck of a time getting any.
It should not be that difficult to get funding from the government agencies that have the means to do so.
Yes they help the diabetics that are under 25 and not the ones that are over 25. You act like people over 25 should have an automatic $7,000 laying around somewhere, Hogwash, we don't.
It is hard enough to live these days let alone come up with $7,000 for an insulin pump that we need to help us live a somewhat normal lifestyle. We did not put up our hand and say I'll take a dose of diabetes, we did not have a choice.
To deny us funding for an insulin pump and the equipment that goes with it is very wrong because you are denying us a chance to avoid death and hospitalization and to live as normal a life as we can.
Diabetes is a 24-hour, 365 days a year disease.
It is not an easy disease to carry out normal, every day tasks. We cannot have certain jobs because of it. All the government agencies workers should have it for a year and see what we put up with.
There's more to it than just take a needle and that will take care of it. We can die from it, lose eyes and kidneys, limbs from it.
I already lost an eye from diabetes and live with a whole host of problems. I almost died of a coma and ended up in ICU from it.
So we ask that you help us with funding for the equipment we need to keep us alive and live a normal life.
My thanks goes out to Terri Kennedy for the letter you wrote. Way to go.
Jacqui East
Vernon