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Home > Knowledge & support > Resource hub > How setting up Maidstone’s first Pride helped teen Kitty overcome her fear of CGM
Kitty: Being at London Pride was so exciting, we dressed up and I even coloured my pod in rainbow. I didn’t want the day to end and asked my mum why our hometown of Maidstone didn’t have a Pride celebration. Her reply was, ‘Why don’t you start one?’
Mum has always said that there’s only one thing I can’t do and that is be a pilot [editor’s note: people with type 1 are now allowed to be pilots] due to my diabetes, so I’ve always tried to do everything else and manage my diabetes around it.
Kitty: To help us start Maidstone’s first Pride we got into contact with a local youth group and the council. We put out posters inviting young people in Maidstone who wanted a Pride to come along and share their views.
Within six months we had a lovely team of volunteers aged from 12 to thirty with adult mentors to help with the skills we needed to do a Pride.
I was invited to talk at my school assemblies during Pride month and even got invited by the head of Kent Police to attend their LGBTQ+ events awareness conference.
Kitty: My confidence grew, which was great, but I’ve had so many hurdles I have been unable to overcome with my diabetes. I’m petrified of blood tests, vaccinations and having a CGM. Even though I started off with injecting insulin, I’m now on the pump. I’ve been finger-pricking to check my bloods since I was 4, so the needle issue doesn’t make sense to most people – not even me!
Kitty: As Pride got closer, I was so excited about the day, the parade and the party that I didn’t want to keep finger-pricking and losing out. At my clinic appointment I finally asked the nurse if I could take a Libre home to try and see if I could use it for Pride.
My mum couldn’t believe it and I could see she was trying not to put any pressure on me so that I didn’t get disappointed if I couldn’t do it. She told me how brave some of the LGBTQ+ community had been, some coming to a meeting for the first time in their chosen gender and showing the world who they want to be, even though they were scared. And something in me clicked and I felt so much braver than I had months before. So, I went for it and I’ve hardly done a finger-prick since. I love the CGM!
Jodi says: When Kitty was diagnosed aged four, I remember being at work on the phone to the consultant. I was slumped in the corridor, trying to take in the information and felt completely devastated. What the consultant didn’t know was that my sister (10 years my senior) has type 1 and I’d witnessed her growing up with huge needles, blue-light hypos and a reluctance to take adventures due to her diabetes.
The thought of Kitty being restricted like this broke my heart. I vowed there and then I would not let her diabetes stop her from doing anything she really wanted to.
Jodi: Lucky for us, diabetes treatment has advanced so much since my childhood with my sister, that even she re-educated herself after seeing how differently Kitty was managing diabetes.
Fast forward 10 years and I found myself standing next to Kitty a London’s annual Pride celebration, screaming at the Netflix Heartstopper Cast to give her a wave.
Jodi says: No matter how much we have told Kitty that this would make her life easier, the want and need for the CGM just hadn’t clicked in her mind until Pride. Whether it was all the confidence she gained, the brave youngsters that she met overcoming their own fears – whatever it was – I’m glad she is moving forward in her treatment.
Other parents of children with type 1 have said the same – that the children will do it when they are ready, and it’s true. It’s so tough knowing that there’s a better option out there for their management, but they are too scared to make the change. I never expected it to be an experience outside of her diabetes to make the penny drop.
Jodi: I’m so proud of my type 1, LGBTQ+ daughter. I hope that other young people with type 1, whatever is holding them back, remember this – you are already warriors every day and there is a whole community that is already proud of that.
Find out about how continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, smart pens and other tech can help you manage type 1.
Learn about managing type 1 diabetes and working, driving, eating, drinking and exercise.
Find out about the research we're doing to prevent, treat and cure type 1 diabetes.
Our Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) makes sure that the research we fund and the policy work we do in the UK is the most promising and relevant for people living with type 1 diabetes. In this blog, members of the SAC share their experience of being in this important role.
Seth Moores was diagnosed as being in the early stages of type 1 diabetes through the JDRF-funded ELSA study. In this blog, his mum, Clare, tells us how getting diagnosed early has prepared them for what lies ahead.
Nadeem Masood talks to us how he manages type 1 diabetes at work, whether he’s in the office or out and about at events.
Mia-Imani Williams was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in September 2022. We spoke to 11-year-old Mia-Imani about diagnosis, wearing her glucose sensor to prom and the support she gets from her family and friends.
Our research is improving the lives of people with type 1 and making strides towards a cure. We’ll keep pushing until we make type 1 diabetes a thing of the past.
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