Diabetes

Talk to young diabetics and it soon becomes clear that the disease requires a lot more than just physical adjustments. Children often feel isolated and rejected by their peers.

BY Ilse Salzwedel for YOU Pulse magazine

Ryno du Toit (6) - pictured here
From Pretoria
"The worst is that I can't just eat anything at parties. Special food must always be provided for me."

Megan Swanepoel (9) - picture here
From Johannesburg
"The children tease me," she tells us, her chest heaving with sobs.

Brandon Swanepoel (12) - pictured here
Her brother
"Since I started using an insulin pump and don't need to inject myself so regularly, the other children have started to accept me."

Rachel Lombaard (11)
From Durban
"The worst is that I have to inject myself six or eight times a day. The children at school tease me when I feel bad or get nauseous and start shivering." When she began using a diabetic pump the children tried to grab it from her because they thought it was an iPod.

(This is an extract from an article that originally appeared in YOU Pulse / Huisgenoot-POLS magazine, Summer 2007. The current edition is on sale now.)

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