Hannah, who has type 1 diabetes (T1D) is four years old and lives on the Sunshine Coast with her mum Bronwyn, her dad, and two siblings. Bronwyn shares Hannah’s story with JDRF in our End of Financial Year appeal.
When 15-month old Hannah seemed thirsty all the time, I thought at first it might be a growth spurt. But she then started feeling a little ‘out of sorts’ and soon began breathing rapidly, so I took her to our GP. With asthma in the family, I thought perhaps these symptoms were the onset of this. Type 1 diabetes wasn’t even on my radar and I certainly didn’t expect the doctor to send us straight to the local hospital. It was the school holidays and with two other kids to look after, I went back home to make some arrangements and within half an hour, Hannah’s health took a sudden turn for the worse.
We arrived at hospital and a switched-on nurse quickly tested Hannah’s blood glucose levels (BGLs), suspecting type 1 diabetes. The dangerously high result confirmed that Hannah was suffering from life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis. We were rushed straight to Brisbane by ambulance, where Hannah was admitted to ICU.
The next week in hospital was a steep learning curve. Our family was educated on everything type 1 diabetes, including how to give Hannah finger prick tests and insulin injections. With Hannah being so young, we tested on her toes rather than her tiny fingers!
I kept asking the healthcare team, “How long until she gets better?” It wasn’t until someone sat me down and explained to me that Hannah would have this disease for the rest of her life, that it really hit me.
At first, Hannah coped well with her five daily insulin injections, but after a few months she began to fear them, screaming and fighting us. My husband and I had to hold her down and inject her tiny stomach. The needle left her covered in bruises, and going through this process five times a day was traumatic and awful for all of us. Luckily, we work from home otherwise who knows how we would have coped!
Hannah is ‘hypo-unaware’, which means that she doesn’t feel the signs of her blood glucose dropping. She can be as low as 1 or 2 mmol/L and still be dancing and singing and having a great time. I often wonder if we didn’t happen to test her, at what point would she have become unconscious?
I’ve had to educate myself about food and carb counting, and on the times we have eaten away from 
home I bring my scales so I can carb count and dose Hannah appropriately. It’s especially hard when we go to kids’ birthday parties, as she can’t really “graze” on the party treats as kids do – otherwise it’s too hard to manage what she’s eating.
Hannah is starting to understand the terminology around type 1 diabetes and has been asking to do her own fingerpricks. She also asks me, “When I’m bigger and I’m cured can I have lollies?” which is heartbreaking.
I worry as because Hannah was diagnosed so young, it means that her body will have to cope with the disease for an extra-long time. What will this mean for her in later life; will there be complications?
Because of this, I hope for a cure, but I’m also looking to the future for new and better technology to treat type 1 diabetes, and prevent complications. I’m looking to JDRF for help with this, and to make this a reality so that Hannah can live a long, healthy and happy life.
Bronwyn
You can watch more of Hannah’s story in a short video or donate to our End of Financial Year appeal here.