A WERRIS Creek couple with two special-needs children under the age of five have started a fundraising campaign to buy a $10,000 insulin pump for their younger child.
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Sabrina and Brett Furner’s four-year-old daughter Aiyana was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in February, and her body is struggling to cope with her four daily insulin injections.
With the family on one income and facing a two-year wait for partial funding for the pump, they have decided to take matters into their own hands for the sake of Aiyana’s health and freedom.
They have started a Gofundme account, which already has almost $2000 in it donated by family and friends, and hope other people and organisations will help their daughter, too.
Mrs Furner was working in retail before having children, but has been unable to return due to their health demands.
Big brother Jago, 5, has autism spectrum disorder and Mrs Furner often has to take him to medical appointments in Tamworth, then dash back to Aiyana’s Werris Creek preschool to administer her insulin shots.
She must monitor Aiyana’s blood sugar levels up to 10 times a day. Aiyana has to be tested twice overnight, and the finger-prick test often wakes her up.
Mrs Furner said that, seven months after her diagnosis, Aiyana was still not responding well to her insulin shots, even after dosage changes.
“Nothing we’re trying at the moment is working,” Mrs Furner said.
“What a pump essentially does is what a pancreas used to do: naturally release a little bit (of insulin) throughout the day, to keep a person going, instead of giving a big amount in one dose, which her body is obviously not able to spread out properly.
“It means that I can program the pump for the entire day.
“It will leave her free to be a little girl – not reporting to teachers or get people to prick her with a needle before she can eat.”
The Gofundme account is www.gofundme.com/mnp4m8x8