Digital pump is sweet relief

KATE NEWTON
If you didn't know Ollie Genet you would think he really likes his iPod, but the hand held device he carries with him everywhere is actually an external pancreas.
The Havelock North Intermediate pupil was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was nine after he collapsed on school camp and was drinking six bottles of water every half hour.
After a stay in hospital Ollie had to start testing his blood levels and injecting himself with insulin five times a day.
He still remembers the first time he had to prick himself.
"It really hurt but I got over it," Ollie said If he let his levels get too high he was risking kidney damage or permanent nerve damage to his major organs and if they got too low he could have fallen into a coma.
At night he would wake in a "low" and during the day he could have a "high" and not remember what he had learnt.
But when Olly's levels needed to be stabilised in hospital recently he was given a chance to try a Cosmo Insulin Pump.
The electronic device was tricky to use as the start at Ollie became used to programming in the amount of carbohydrates he ate.
Now the aspiring All Black takes his insulin pump out only to play rugby as it constantly drips insulin into his system: "I just feel better than what I was. I used to have heaps of days off school," he said.
It could extend his life by five to 10 years.
The pumps aren't government-funded, despite the potential to save the health system money in the long run, and cost about $6500 so Maggie has written to organisations asking for funding.
About 125,000 New Zealanders have diabetes - a chronic condition that arises when the pancreas does not make enough insulin, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
About 11,000 New Zealanders have Type 1 - a condition where people have very little or no insulin and need to inject themselves with insulin.
About 115,000 New Zealanders have Type 2 and cannot use insulin effectively. Type 2 can be managed with lifestyle changes or often with oral drugs. It is estimated an extra 115,000 have undiagnosed Type 2 and more than 300,000 are at risk of developing it.