A MUM is campaigning on behalf of diabetic children in Herefordshire after discovering a life-changing piece of equipment for her daughter.
Helena McConnachie, whose five-year-old daughter Grace has type one diabetes, wants all youngsters with diabetes to have free access to continuous glucose monitors – equipment that is not currently available on the NHS.
The monitor supervises a diabetic peron’s blood sugar level 24 hours a day.
If blood sugar drops or rises to a dangerous level, it ‘communicates’ with a pump which controls the amount of insulin being injected into the body and also sets off an alarm.
Helena and her husband John, who live at Hurst Farm, near Weobley , were able to secure a monitor for Grace through the SSAFA – Forces Help charity.
Helena wants all type one diabetic children to have free monitors and said she is now speaking to Herefordshire NHS about all those youngsters having access to the equipment at least once a month.
“It’s turned our lives around," said Helena.
"It’s isn’t being overdramatic to say these small plastic monitors, which are about the size of a credit card, save lives, not to say the peace of mind they can give to a family.”
