Supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)

Saskia was 14 months old when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  Her diagnosis was both relieving and devastating.  On the one hand with careful monitoring and through the administering of insulin her condition could be managed, but life would never be the same.  Our whole daily routine changed.  Between finger pricks, to monitor her blood glucose levels and the vital routine of regular meals (which is never easy with a baby or a toddler), we have to ensure we were giving the correct doses of insulin, the effects of getting it wrong are heartbreaking for a parent. 

The total devastation of the news is something which is never really considered, but is never far from the surface, the possibility of complications, and long term health effects and the fact that Saskia has to grow up with diabetes.

Saskia was moved to an insulin pump in January 2010.  This has been a huge benefit to all the family, and has helped us to ensure better control.  We still have to ensure we have a constant supply of food (which we know she will eat – a challenge) for Saskia, and days out involve taking a bag of equipment to regularly test her blood glucose levels, a book to help figure out the carbohydrate content of the food she might eat, back up supplies of energy giving food, and a back up system in case the life line of the insulin pump should fail.

Having said that to watch and play with Saskia she is a normal fun loving three year old and you would not guess she has this condition.

With the school years looming on the horizon and the prospect of having to hand the daily control of her condition to a young Saskia and strangers, who might not fully understand the effects of not getting the management right, we look to the support of organisations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), who offer ongoing support to parents of and the children with diabetes.  In addition they strive to support and fund what we hope is a realistic probability, within Saskias lifetime of a cure for diabetes.

JDRF hold the key for Saskia and thousands of children in the UK to a life free of the trauma and pain of changing the set every 3 days, which gives the insulin, of a life without sore fingers from testing her blood glucose levels, to a life without the long term complications, the short term effects of hypos and hyper's.  A life that is free.

This is why we have chosen to support JDRF in its work.  The answer it would appear is simple, the more money they raise, the more research they can fund and the faster they can find the cure.   We hope you will be able to support us in our quests.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - We raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Who are JDRF?

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation exists to find the cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications, and is the world's largest charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research.  It was founded by a small group of parents of children with type 1 diabetes who recognised that insulin injections are not the cure for this life threatening and lifelong condition.

JDRF in the , affiliated to JDRF International (based in the ), was founded in 1986. It is an independent charity with its own Board of Directors and registered with the Charity Commission of England and .

'Raising funds in aid of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation  - registered charity numbers 295716 ( and ) and SC040123 ()