Toddler diagnosed with diabetes is kept alive by JELLY BABIES
Three-year-old George Vinnicombe became the youngest person in Britain to be diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes at just six months old. Now 3-years-old, he is force-fed Jelly Babies while sleeping to keep him alive.
According to Mirror UK, the condition means George cannot regulate his blood-sugar level – and the sweets are a perfect way to stop it going low.
Dad Simon, 37, said: “Jelly Babies are now medicine for George, he would never ask for one. He quite likes them but he doesn’t get excited about them like other kids. He’ll eat the Jelly Babies in his sleep. If his blood-sugar is low and he’s completely asleep, I force-feed them down his throat. I hate that bit.”
George, who lives with his playwright dad, Simon, mum, Tracy, 36, and a 16-month-old sister, Ava, has to wear a pump that delivers the insulin he needs, depending on what he has just eaten. But because he is so small, his blood-sugar can dip – causing a hypoglycemic attack or ‘hypo’ – or rise too high with little warning.
It means his parents are forced to carry a “hypo kit” wherever they go, that contains three packets of Jelly Babies and a glucose drink.
Simon and sports therapist, Tracy, reckon George has had more than 2,000 Jelly Babies to stop attacks.
He has had more than 10,000 finger pricks to test his sugar and has had 300 cannulas, or mini-pumps, fitted. Simon and Tracy wake five times a night to check his blood.
Simon, of Surbiton, South West London, said: “Exercise, hot or cold weather and stress can affect his sugar levels. He deals with it incredibly. He won’t flinch about a finger test, but changing his cannula hurts as it’s a needle in his bum. He accepts it, but I think he feels a sense of injustice. The other day he said, ‘I don’t feel brave today, Daddy.’ It’s heartbreaking.”
Source: mirror.co.uk