Boy, 7, had 'overwhelming' diabetes diagnosis

The parents of a seven-year-old who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes eight weeks ago are urging others to look out for the signs in their children who may present with the condition.

Today marks World Diabetes Day and almost 6,000 people on the island are recorded as being on the diabetes register.

Jamie and Charlotte Lewis, who had to explain the condition to their son, said it was better to be aware then be sorry.

"It's quick, it's painful and it's hard to get your kids to do it but it is for their benefit," they said.

Charlotte, who knew of the signs, the four Ts - toilet, tired, thinner and thirsty, initially tried to "explain the symptoms away".

"He has just started school so I believed with a new year it could be nervousness or anxiousness until we went to the doctors," she said.

"Initially it was a shock," said Jamie.

He continued: "He was a bit overwhelmed with lots of injections, finger pricks and the monitoring device thing going on but we spoke to him honestly and that little boy from that evening has grown so much in the last eight weeks," he said.

"Now he will squeeze his blood out to test and tell you where to do inject and even take a deep breath in before changing his sensor.

"It is remarkable how resilient, mature and kind he is," added Charlotte.

The couple said they would like to see greater awareness around the condition and the different types.

"There is a lot of stigma around it (Type 1) and some believe you are giving your kid too much sugar but it is absolutely not that," said Charlotte.

Jamie added while his son's school and teacher had been "great" more education was needed and he was calling on the health and education department to do more.

"The four Ts are memorable so if people can remember that then they would know to take a quick finger prick test and can handle the condition accordingly," Charlotte said.

Natasha Parry, from Diabetes Isle of Man, was diagnosed with Type 1 at the age of 12 in 2003 after she presented with the four Ts and consulted her GP which led to her diagnosis.

She said she only knew about the condition after watching an episode on Coronation Street.

"One of the characters was practicing injecting an orange and I remember saying to my mum imagine having to inject every day and then behold, sort of six months or so later, I was diagnosed."

In 2019, Parry started volunteering at Diabetes Isle of Man.

She said the charity is hoping to meet with the education minister to bring more upto date policies around diabetes within schools.

"This is so important and needs to be understood because not a lot of people know what needs to be done if a child has a hypo in the school setting," she said.

Ross Keat from Public Health Isle of Man said the focus this World Diabetes Day is on testing early and increasing the awareness of the risks for Type 2 diabetes.

He said it is imperative people test early as there is a large proportion of people walking around in a pre-diabetic state.

"In the case of Type 2 diabetes, it is associated with lifestyle choices and people won't be aware that they are pre-diabetic until they present with symptoms later in life."

Of the island's population, 7% have been diagnosed with the condition which Keat described as "concerning", as the management of Type 2 diabetes needs to occur over the remainder of an individual's life.

"Those aged 70-79 is where we see the largest percentage so potentially there is a considerable burden on the health service and we need to have a serious conversation about prevention to reduce the expenditure and burden on the healthcare service."

In order to do this, he said, people need to make "the healthier choice".

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