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Case study: Kitty

Victoria Jacobs' daughter Kitty was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of two-and-a-half. 'It happened very suddenly. We noticed she was very thirsty, but I thought that it was just summer. But my husband was suspicious, because his brother was diabetic. She didn't have any other symptoms, such as tiredness or losing weight. We did a finger-prick blood test on her uncle's machine and it was off the scale, so we took her to the doctor who referred her for a blood test. It only takes one drop of blood to show that you are diabetic - so I had to accept it straightaway. This all happened the week that Kitty started at nursery school. 'We had to pull her out to go to hospital to get her insulin sorted. Injections never have been a problem - if you treat it as something ordinary I don't think a child questions it. Kitty never struggled or made a fuss.

This all happened the week that Kitty started at nursery school. 'We had to pull her out to go to hospital to get her insulin sorted. Injections never have been a problem - if you treat it as something ordinary I don't think a child questions it. Kitty never struggled or made a fuss.

'No-one at the nursery really had to do much. The diabetic nurse went to explain to them about diabetes, but for the hours Kitty was there, there wasn't really a problem. What was difficult was if someone brought in a birthday cake -the staff didn't always think to keep it until later, when she could have an injection first. And they also needed to know that she might need water if her blood sugar levels were too high, or sugary foods if it dropped too low.

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