Mrs Cubis has turned to the increasingly popular concept of “crowdfunding” to help raise the money needed to buy an insulin pump to better manage the type-one diabetes she’s suffered since she was a teenager.

She’s put her story up on the personal fundraising website “gofundme” to reach as many people as possible and hopefully encourage them to donate to her cause.

Mrs Cubis said she was diagnosed at 17 with type one diabetes, and five years later it almost claimed her life.

“I was 130kg, about to embark on my HSC, had no self-confidence, and hated not feeling normal,” she said.

“At 22 years old, after five years of not complying with my medication, I dropped to a size eight weighing 55kg and I ended up in a diabetic coma,” she said.

The doctors told her parents if they hadn’t found her when they did, it would have been too late. 

“After that near-death experience I focused on getting better and listening to my specialists. Eight months later I fell pregnant with my first daughter, MacKenzie,” Mrs Cubis said.

She is still plagued though by health issues non-diabetics are never confronted with.

“Recently I had a cracked heel on my foot that got really infected overnight. I ended up on a drip of antibiotics for three days trying to heal the ulcer on my foot,” she said. 

“The doctors told me I was very lucky not to have lost a big chunk out of my foot, or even my foot in the worse-case scenario.”

Medical specialists have said an insulin pump would benefit Mrs Cubis far more than four daily needles, but the $6000 price tag is beyond the family’s means. 

“I know I’m not the only one in this position. There would be thousands of people experiencing the same financial hardship as I am right now. It’s such a shame that Medicare doesn’t provide these life-saving devices,” Mrs Cubis said.

“I want this because I need to be around for my two girls, MacKenzie and Piper, and my husband. They are young and they need their mummy around. The pump will enable me to have a longer quality of life.”

To donate to Rachel’s cause visit www.gofundme.com/713in8

– The Moree Champion