I am so completely floored right now I can hardly put sentences together! I have been given a most unexpected and extremely generous gift. But let me start at the beginning….
I have been a Juvenile Diabetic for 12 and a half years. This disease has ruled my life day in and day out. It dictates when I eat, when I sleep and saps a lot of my freedom. I have controlled my diabetes all these years with what is called Multiple Daily Injection Therapy. Basically this means I give myself injections of
insulin. When I was first diagnosed with diabetes I injected myself twice a day. Over the years the number of injections has increased and I currently give myself seven injections a day.  This is not because I have poor control of my diabetes, but because I can achieve better control this way. By giving myself
multiple injections I can more closely mimic a normally functioning pancreas which is constantly excreting insulin. The best I can do on shots is inject more frequently.Â
In recent years my endocrinologist has been recommending that I try out what is called an Insulin Pump.Â
This is a pager-sized device that is worn on the belt (or some such place) and it is connected to the patient’s body with very fine tubing. The pump contains cartridges of insulin and it delivers a continuous dose of insulin. When the person has something to eat they simply press a few buttons on the machine and it delivers a larger dose of insulin to go along with the meal. The bottom line of this is that a pump user does not have to use injections. The site where the tubing is inserted must be changed every 3 days. But compared to seven times a day this is sounding pretty good! The other benefit is that using a pump greatly decreases the likelihood of developing scary long-term complications of diabetes like kidney
failure, heart disease, blindness, and diabetic neuropathy.
But there’s always a catch. Insulin pumps cost money. A LOT of money. Around $7000. Let’s just say that is a little more than I have lying around. So when I finally decided a pump would be worth trying out I had to look around for some other possibilities to purchase said pump. My first idea was to get my
group insurance from my husband’s work to pay for the pump. Their response was, and I quote “OH HELLZ NO!!!” (Ok, maybe they were slightly more discreet, but that was the sentiment.) As far as insurance is concerned, an insulin pump is a cadillac and I am only entitled to a Seven-Shots-a-Day-Toyota.Â
But I did not give up hope. I waited until my husband’s employer changed insurance companies and asked again. This time I was treated to the best Insurance has to offer when confronted by a client who is using up “too much” of their money: our benefits were cut off until we applied for and were rejected by the Saskatchewan Drug Plan. Nice. Really nice. Ever the optimist, I persevered. I wrote my MP and my MLA asking them to take action in their respective areas of government, to push for change. I explained why pumps are better than injection therapy and how the government would save themselves a lot of money in the long run (in hospital care and treatment for diabetic complications) by paying for insulin pumps for diabetics. Their political correct and socially sensitive responses were “Uhhh…I don’t think there’s anything we can do about that” and “I am not sure that we can help, except to confirm that our healthcare system is in chaos and needs work” (and that is a direct quote). Way to go guys.Â
Feeling defeated, I was ready to give up hope. But a friend recommended that I try applying for a Kinsmen Telemiracle grant.  My enthusiasm renewed, I filled out an excrutiatingly long and detailed application. I had hoped to have my application considered at their August meeting but that was not possible. So I have been waiting and trying to be patient. This Saturday they will meet and will hopefully discuss my situation. I have been told, however, that a person asking for the same equipment was turned down by Kinsmen and he made considerably less money than my husband as he was a student.Â
So it seems I am stuck in this sinkhole of Middle Class frustration. Too wealthy to qualify for any kind of social assistance that might actually purchase a pump for me, and too poor to have seven grand just lying around. What to do? I resolved to go on as I have been doing and hope that in a few years, once some of our debt was paid off, we would be able to purchase a pump on a financing plan where we could pay it off over several years.
But now… the super exciting news….This past week I was visiting with a friend who moved out of town several months ago. I told her about the problems I had encountered and about my desire to buy a pump. Today I got a call from this friend saying she had told her parents about my situation and they, apparently being very generous and making regular charitable donations, have offered to give me over half of the money for an insulin pump! Yes, these two people who have never met me before, have given me such a huge gift. Not just the gift of money, but the opportunity to have a longer, more fulfilling and probably much healthier life! I almost wept when I hung up the phone tonight. These people probably don’t realize it, but they have become angels to me. They have lifted a heavy burden from my shoulders and I am completely overwhelmed with gratitude. What can I say in a situation like this but a most heartfelt “thank you.”
So I am looking forward to getting an insulin pump, hopefully in the next month. I am waiting to be officially rejected by Kinsmen. I suppose if it works out in the end then that would be wonderful, too. But I don’t think anything could compare to this gift. Kinsmen is an organization dedicated to helping people and that is a wondeful thing. But somehow, the unsolicited gift of a generous heart has touched me more than winning a grant ever will. We’ll see where the path leads. But tonight, I will be thankful for the people who have shown me this extraordinary kindness.
