Vicky Luxton lives with her husband Neil and two children in
Walton-on-Thames. She owns the Beauty Lounge in Byfleet Village. This is her story.
My reason for being here today is for my daughter Beth and to share our experience as a family living with diabetes.
Our daughter Beth was diagnosed on the 10 of April 2006 aged 11 with Type1 diabetes. That day is frozen in time. It was Easter half term. In the morning we were doing the food shopping and by the afternoon we were learning how to do blood tests and injections. I never thought we would be able to remember everything but Anne Lyddall the diabetic nurse specialist at St. Peter's Hospital went through everything step by step and by late afternoon, after lots of practicing, I did my first injection on Beth and by that evening Beth did her first injection on herself. I know this was all down to the confidence Anne gave us.
The next morning Beth was discharged from hospital and we were on our way home. It was like coming home with a new born baby; the way we were going to live our lives had changed. We then had the new challenge of living with diabetes.
The first time we left the house it was like a military maneuver checking we had the blood testing kit the insulin injection lucozade and enough food to feed an army! The stress on us all was huge. We did slowly realise that although all the medical equipment did have to be with us at all times, half the contents of Tesco's did not - a ham sandwich would do!
I found that there were many misconceptions about Type 1 diabetes people would say the strangest things to you "oh she'll grow out of it" and "they can cure that now". The reality is that Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. At the moment there is no cure only treatment with insulin that has to be administered by injection and regular blood tests. For Beth she has to test her bloods at least 5 times a day and she injects at the moment 5 times a day. That is 10 needle intrusions into her body everyday and this must happen everyday for the rest of her life. So far Beth has completed 2216 injections and the same again in blood tests making a total of 4432 needle intrusions in the first 19 months!!!!!!
It is a constant struggle to keep the blood sugars steady. Too high Beth feels ill. Too low and she will hypo which is also unpleasant and both can lead to requiring urgent medical treatment if left untreated.
The care that Beth and our family have received from the diabetes team at St. Peters is world class. Their support has given us the tools to cope day to day. This is where we were introduced to the Stephanie Marks Appeal. Val Marks came to talk to the parents at the diabetes support group about the Appeal and my husband and I were inspired. We could now do something positive for the future care for our child. So we decided to run the London 10k not an easy task when you can't even run for a bus! But, on the 1 of July this year we ran it and with the help of my clients at the Beauty Lounge in Byfleet Village raised over £2,000!
The Stephanie Marks diabetes centre is going to be able to provide state of the art facilities with all the services under one roof with the best consultants and specialised nurses who are dedicated to improving the lives of everyone living with type1 and type2 diabetes in surrey. So if you have a spare £150,000 please write a cheque made out to the Stephanie Marks Appeal !!
Thank you!
Vicky Luxton
For further information, to purchase tickets for an event, or to request a leaflet, please call 01932 722330 or email: val.levy@asph.nhs.uk
The Stephanie Marks Appeal, Communications and Fundraising, The Studio, Ashford & St Peter’s NHS Trust, Guildford Road, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 0PZ
