Lions Club gives Joel a huge boost
Lions Club gives Joel a huge boost
November 28, 2007
Section: News
For 12-year-old Barrack Heights resident Joel Miller, a normal day involves two insulin injections and up to eight blood tests.
However, thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Oak Flats Lions Club and The Young Adults Group of the Shellharbour City Baptist Church, the young diabetes sufferer will be receiving an $8,500 insulin pump that will allow him to live a more normal life and control his condition without daily injections.
Joel’s mother, Karen Miller, said they were expecting the pump to be fitted early next year.
“It’s a small device like a mobile phone or pager, with a tube connecting under the skin,” Ms Miller said.
“It delivers a small amount of insulin into the body 24-hours-a-day. When you eat or do sport you have to adjust the level of the insulin.”
The major benefit of an insulin pump is that unlike injections, the pump gives a constant adjustable metered dose, which levels out the high and low sugar levels experienced by diabetes sufferers.