Mother demands equal care for daughter with diabetes

A mum of a young child living with Type 1 diabetes has criticised the disparity in health supports offered to patients in Cavan compared to larger urban based hospitals.

This time last year, Harman O’Neill says her eight-year-old daughter Anusha’s body was “slowly trying to make its way into a coma” because she was in diabetic ketoacidosis [DKA].

“Whether it was pot luck or divine intervention,” says Harman, little Anusha was admitted to Cavan General Hospital without appointment, on initial suspicion of a possible kidney infection.

But quickly realising something more serious may be underlying, the team of medics worked valiantly to stabilise Anusha’s worsening condition, before later relaying a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes to her shocked parents.

“The outstanding quality of care in Cavan General cannot be disputed,” states Harman, whose daughter remains under the care of the newly-established, chronic disease out-patient clinic at Cavan General, covering cardiology, respiratory and diabetes.

However, as Harman says, and Anusha’s plight was raised in the Dáil recently by Sinn Féin’s Pauline Tully, the little girl is beginning finding the insulin injections “quite stressful”.

But when Anusha’s parents asked about the provision of an insulin pump, they were told that, due to staffing and funding issues, it was “not possible” to provide that support at Cavan General Hospital, and the doctor then referred her to either Drogheda or a hospital in Dublin.

“I know this does not apply just to Cavan General Hospital and a lot of other hospitals have the same issue. I have spoken about this previously to the Minister for Health and somebody from his office was in touch with me, but my understanding is the HSE has not responded on this issue,” said Deputy Tully, addressing Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly last month.

The unavailability of insulin pumps including those with crucial glucose monitoring sensors at Cavan General, says Harman, is an example of the difference in standards of care applied in rural area compared to those for patients attending larger hospitals.

“We have such a good relationship with the clinic [in Cavan], and Anusha is comfortable with the doctors and nurses, the whole process is already so stressful for her, so why would we want to make that any more difficult for her?” asks Harman, who wrote an open and heart-felt letter about her daughter’s experience to date.

‘The government is failing its children and young people. Not only is there a disconnection of health care provision, but the government continues to perpetuate contradictory policies: reducing the carbon footprint on one hand, yet on the other, expecting people to travel over seventy miles for an appointment - an appointment that would require less than a 30-minute journey or so if the pump was accessible in Cavan.'

To add ‘further strain’ to an already difficult situation, Harman complains there is no person-centred ‘psychological support’ services for young children trying to ‘make sense of why they have to manage their blood glucose, and for children especially, it does come down to the most basic: ‘why do I have diabetes?’

Often, Harman says, she listens at the door as her daughter “cries herself to sleep”.

It can be “heart-breaking”.

Type 1 diabetes, writes Harman, is a ‘life sentence’ for her daughter Anusha and the more than 225,000 people living with diabetes in Ireland today.

‘There is a saying: ‘we do our best and the bloods do the rest’, and whilst we use this approach for Anusha, in reality, doing our best is extremely exhausting, and for any child with Type 1, it is terribly lonely.’

Tuesday, November 29, 2022 marks the one-year anniversary from when Anusha was first taken into hospital and later diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Looking back, Harman says the “tell-tale signs” were there.

“Sporadic indicators were visible,” explains Harman, reminding people of the ‘Think Test’: increased thirst; reduced energy; sudden weight change; and increased toilet trips.

Anusha’s current condition is “like a rollercoaster” at times, from phases of high blood sugar levels back down to low.

Harman’s daughter currently uses an app on a phone to read her glucose sensor on her arm, using a traffic light system. “She’s grasped it really well, and she’s getting used to what to eat and when or when not to eat. She has really understood it. We couldn’t be more lucky in that sense,” says Harman.

“The pump is a huge issue, but the emotional side of things, the psychological impact is just as significant on children. There is such a disconnection and it needs to be addressed... There has to be equal care for everyone.”