When mother-of-two Kim Henshaw was eight, her life was changed forever. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, an auto-immune condition where the body wrongly destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. A disease for which there is no known cause or cure.
Thirty years on, and with two healthy children and a husband in tow, the Victorian reflects on her life post-diagnosis.
“It’s relentless. There’s no real break from it,” Kim tells Mamamia. “It feels there aren’t any real changes on the horizon… I don’t even remember my life without diabetes, this is just the way it is now.”
It's believed 1.7 million Australians have diabetes, of which 10 per cent suffer with Type 1, also known as juvenile diabetes.
Sufferers face the precarious task of balancing their blood glucose levels at all times. A sudden dip or spike can result in extreme lethargy, blurred vision, dizziness, headaches, mood swings, and muscle cramping. A compromised immune system commonly sees Type 1 diabetes sufferers battle persistent skin infections and drastic weight changes.
While the exact cause is unknown, research shows there is a strong hereditary link, meaning parents often pass diabetes onto their children.
It's this fact that plagues Kim, who fears she has inadvertently given her disease to daughter Aspen, 11, and son Jarrah, 5, who are both currently healthy. The anticipation is so intense, Kim describes it as "a constant underlying feeling of guilt".
Top Comments
My 8 year old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2015 and we try our best to not let it rule our lives. I think it helps in a way that my brother in law had it since he was a teenager, so it was 'normal' in his family. We pretty much let her eat what she wants, it just means extra insulin.
My grandfather had diabetes, being properly diagnosed when he was 4 in 1925. In those days there wasn't a proper treatment so they used to make him eat a lot of cabbage and carrots believing that these would draw the sugars out of his blood and make him sit in mud baths to sweat them out.
While yes, the rest of his life he was insulin dependent and monitored blood sugar levels 3 times a day (he often joked this is why he married a nurse!) it was NEVER as big a deal to him as this article is inferring. The only thing it ever stopped him doing is going to war and that was only because his doctor was in charge of doing medicals that day.
He lived a full healthy life and died at 83, of causes not connected to diabetes. None of our family have the disease, however I have faith that because Gramp was such an amazing role model for us, if we were to be diagnosed it would not at all be world-ending.
I am proud to be his granddaughter.
I'm so pleased that your grandfather had such a positive experience. Unfortunately for many type 1 diabetics, it's a life changing and extremely difficult diagnosis. I'm an extremely positive person and a capable nurse, but yet it is relentless and tough and so much more that I don't think you understand (and I pray you never have to!!). I was disappointed that you said it's not as big a deal as this article infers. Yes, it is, to many. Xo