Luniel insulin pump therapy Campaign

Please meet Luniel. My one of a kind, funny, loving and very energetic nephew.

Luniel and his family’s life changed drastically in the last 5 years. At age 8 he was diagnosed with Type1 diabetes, a non-curable lifelong disease. 2 months ago, they got more devastating news with a ‘familial hypercholesterolemia’ diagnosis. This will be partly responsible for his uncontrolled sugars. Dieticians are baffled as to how they should support him.

Both conditions are uncurable, and he will be on chronic medication for the rest of his life.

Even though diabetes is a PMB condition, the medical aid will only pay for the approved finger prick and insulin, and 2 dietician visits per year. He really needs a lot of support in understanding and eating according to his conditions. Being a child with a busy schedule this is rather daunting, not even mentioning his poor parents’ constant worry.

Luniel will be attending high school next year, they stay on a farm 50km from Nelspruit, and it is his desire to stay in the hostel to partake in as many activities possible. The problem will be storing the insulin in a fridge with access 5 or more times per day and having someone to assist him in a possible low sugar during the night-every parent’s worst nightmare. 

New technology makes it possible for him to carry an insulin pump. The insulin pump is designed to test sugar levels every 5 minutes and inject 0.02 units to control the smallest increase in sugar levels. If the levels are high, it automatically gives insulin little by little as needed. If the levels are low, it will automatically stop the insulin and an alarm will indicate the problem to him and his parents so they can attend to it. The aim is to achieve constant and stable levels to ensure his long-term health, and this will make an enormous change in their lives.

We are raising funds for the insulin pump, R57 476.9 once off.

12 dietician visits, R6000 per year.

12 months consumables (reservoirs, infusion pack, sensor.) R5193.6 per month.