Ashton Walker is a natural runner which is why his disappointing school cross country result and subsequent illness triggered alarm bells for Mum Tara.
Tara said her son was exhausted and exhibiting flu like symptoms and when he didn’t improve, she took him to their family doctor.
“We took Ashton to the GP who did a finger prick test and were immediately sent to Mackay Base Hospital,” Tara said.
“By the time we arrived at the hospital Ashton could barely walk and shortly after being admitted he was diagnosed with Type1 Diabetes.”
The impact of the diagnosis has had a significant impact on young Ashton’s life.
“Not much has changed,” says Ashton before pausing, “well a lot actually.”
Tara says it’s the little things most people take for granted like mealtime, playtime, sleepovers, that have taken the biggest impact for Ashton and his family.
“A lot of preparation has to go into meal preparation for Ashton. He can eat most foods, but we have to calculate the insulin beforehand,” she said.
“I think the biggest thing for Ashton is not going over to friend’s houses to play or having sleepovers because of the responsibility it would put on the parents.”
It is National Diabetes Week (12-18 July), and the campaign theme ‘Heads Up’ highlights the mental and emotional health impact of living with diabetes.
Tara, a Psychologist, says there has been an element of mental and emotional toll on the family since Ashton’s diagnosis.
“It has been a massive year for Ashton adjusting to this new way of life and as parents, the education and responsibility has been huge, it can be really exhausting.
“With my profession we practice positive well-being and mental health strategies and have wonderful communication at home which definitely helps.”
Ashton visits Diabetes Clinical Nurse Jacqueline Holster at Mackay Base Hospital and it is the relationship she has formed with the Walker family that saw Ashton attend his first diabetes camp last year.
“Ashton has always shown independence and been actively involved in the management of his diabetes from the beginning,” Jacqueline said.
“The CQ Diabetes Camp gave him the opportunity to meet other young people with type 1 diabetes and see that he is not alone.”
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease and is significantly different to Type 2 diabetes which is caused by lifestyle factors.
Ashton wears a Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) device provides constant information of glucose levels and wears an insulin pump to deliver his insulin.
Outside of the family and hospital Ashton says that his wonderful school and friends have played a big part in their support community.
“At school my Mum is in a group chat with my teacher, school nurse and my Dad, so if the Dexcom says I am low we all get told,” he said.
Besides the ‘tech’ that he now wears, Ashton is still a regular kid who loves school, loves playing basketball and loves to dance.
And for any child being newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes Ashton has some advice:
“It does get better, you will get used to it and live a normal life again.”
