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Boy collapses at Tory insulin press conference

By: Larry Kusch

24/11/2009 11:48 AM | Comments: 40

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Conservatives started to roll out their 2011 election platform this morning with a promise to fund the cost of insulin pumps to diabetic children -- but their press conference was cut short when one of the participants collapsed.

The teenager -- who uses an insulin pump -- collapsed in the warm, packed room in the legislative building due to low blood-sugar levels. He was fine a few minutes later, after drinking some juice.

The Conservatives said the province should fund the cost of providing pumps for people aged 18 and under with Type 1 or juvenile diabetes, saying it would help children lead more normal lives and save taxpayers money in the end.

They estimate there are 500 Manitoba children with juvenile diabetes. The pumps cost $6,500 and last five years. Insulin pump supplies cost about $3,000 a year, making the total annual cost about $4,300 a year.

Five other provinces in Canada fund the pumps.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

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40 Commentscomment icon

Very well said type1diabetic, I could not agree more

After all this, you have the nerve to ask about Type 2's?
Type 2's have a somewhat still working pancreas and may even be able to control it through diet and exercise, that is Type 2 Diabetes! Type 2 Diabetes gets all the media. Every second person is being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Someone once said to me when they heard I was a Type 1 Diabetic, "your parents must have given you very unhealthy foods when you were little. Were you an overweight child?" I was 4years old and my father is a Type 1 Diabetic. That is what society thinks of Diabtes. That I had the ability to develop or not develop Diabetes. It's absurd!
Type 1 Diabetics don't have a choice. We develop Diabetes and are put on insulin immediately. we don't have the option of controlling it through diet, exercise and oral medications. Because of the Type 2 epidemic, Type 1 Diabetes is put on the back burner. I read articles every second day about a person that, was able to "get rid of their Diabetes", Type 1 Diabetics cannot "get rid of their Diabetes". We attend press conferences for the insulin pump! Type 2's are the only Diabetes anyone knows about, yet it is the less serious Diabetes. No one is saying to feel shame, but when we are speaking of the hopes in having the insulin pumps covered for children, don't make this about Type 2 Diabetes! Once there is a cure for Type 1 Diabetes, then we'll work on Type 2

what about type 2's or is that the diabetes we're supposed to feel shameful about?

Disgusting how McFud uses sick people. While I understand what he was trying to do, this guy just can't get it right.

It was the Tories who gutted Manitoba's health care.

It was the Tories who tried to fix the provincial election.

Stand Up manitoba and ensure that the Tories never get back in power.

"It is very tough for a young person to acknowledge they have a disease - never mind going public with it."

Perhaps - if he was taught that it was somehow not normal or shameful. Otherwise why wouldn't a kid acknowledge his disease? That's his life. He's diabetic. You suggest it's hard for a youngster with type I diabetes to acknowledge it?

Yeah. We overuse words like courageous.

No matter how you slice it it is just the Torries taking advantage of a group of kids that have a particular health problem. I think the Province should pay for the pump if it will help. I can not see how in the Country that invenred Insulin any one has to pay for it. But if there is point to make the Torries will surround themselfs with the people most affected and lie then when they are in power do the opposite . We need to look no further then Mr. Harper to prve this point.

Diabetes is an awful disease to live with. I had become de-sensitized to it because in the media, all you see is instruments and devices which when used, make the diabetic's life easier to manager...right?

Well, I have now come to know that one may think they are managing their blood sugar, but they really are just monitoring it. Insulin levels are affected by so many things and when things happen, they happen.

This family and this young man put a face to the plight of living with diabetes. Just because it's in the news and many diabetics seem to be living "normal" lives, it's a minute to minute battle. The number of diabetics in Manitoba is increasing and so are the numbers of young people affected by the disease...we can't close our eyes to it.

To Skutch - how dare you! This young man and his family are bringing forth a cause that is truly important and life-changing. Anyone who appears in any press conference was not coerced into it - they are there because they believe in an issue and want their voices heard. And thank goodness they do. It is much more beneficial for the public to hear directly from a person affected by the issue - whatever that issue is - than to hear politicians talking about it as third parties.

Bravo to this brave young man - and YES I do think it is courageous of him! It is very tough for a young person to acknowledge they have a disease - never mind going public with it. Thank you to the young man and his family! It is an important policy change and a much better use of tax-payer dollars than the horrendously expensive WRHA building on Main Street.

The pump does not monitor blood sugar at all! Flatlander, if you have no clue what you're talking about, then keep your comments to yourself, at least out of respect for us that have Type 1 Diabetes. A bit of advice,if you are going to try and make a point, learn about the subject before you comment on it.
The pump gives insulin on a continual basis. As someone that was at the conference this morning,I know how awful it must have been for the young boy to have gotten low, welcome to Diabetes, but we pick ourselves up and keep going! He has been in my thoughts since this morning.
The life of a Type 1 Diabetic is not always easy. We have good and bad days, whether you`re on multiple injections or the pump, No day is perfect. Sometimes the body just has a different plan than the pump and the insulin. As a fellow diabetic, I am glad that action was taken quickly and the boy was fine and hopefully almost back to himself by this evening. For the boy that got low,I think you`re an amazing and brave kid!

@flatlander: you clearly have no idea how a pump works.

It does NOT monitor blood sugar levels. It simpley injects insulin based on the carbs the user punches in.

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