A MUM, along with her two daughters, has set up a support group, travelling bear initiative and written a book to help educate children who have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
The Donkin family – mum Donna, who was born in Westbury and now lives in Trowbridge, and her two children Cerys and Alena, began their work educating children about type 1 diabetes (T1) when Cerys was diagnosed in January 2011 at the age of nine.
Donna said, “I had never heard of children being affected by it before. Obviously I had to quickly get to grips with the fact that this was our new way of life, and focus on helping Cerys adjust.”
After following advice from Diabetes UK, and making connections with other people with T1, the family set up a support group to provide connections for Cerys and a place for people to chat. This was where ‘The Insulin Gang’ started, and now has a Facebook page of over 5,000 followers.
Donna continued, “I am proud of ‘The Gang’ – it is a friendly, informative place to find friendship, support, and advice. It is nice to see how friendships online have progressed to offline, myself included, with several members.”
Cerys struggled to come to terms with her diagnosis, so Donna decided to throw a fundraising tea party, helping Cerys to focus on inviting friends. This began a whole list of fundraising events totalling over £10,000 raised for Diabetes UK and other charities by the family.
Donna added, “Through organising these events we have met some incredible people who have been willing to give up their time and money or skills to support us.”
Then Donna started sending travelling bears to children with T1 on loan for a month, with a journal, in which they could write or draw about their adventures with their bear. The idea is that the children read each other’s journal entries and realise they are not alone. The family join the Facebook page and update the page, and families actively follow the bears. Donna has 50 bears that are located across the world including India, UK, Northern Ireland, America, Australia, Portugal, Canada, Spain, Iceland, Canada, Africa, Hungary, France and Sweden.
She said, “The bears have even met celebrities such as Nick Jonas and Robert Downey Jr, and has visited Parliament, which is incredible, and hugely exciting, but seeing everyday accomplishments with the bears, that means the most to me.”
Donna has also self-published her debut book based on Sugar, one of the travelling bears. It is written with the view of educating children who are newly-diagnosed. The book is available for purchase now on Amazon and Donna’s daughter Alena, 13, provided the illustrations.
Donna said, “Alena is suffering from M.E and has mobility issues and chronic pain, so her involvement gave her a positive focus. She is too unwell for school and the digital art that she drew took her a lot of effort. It means a lot to me that both of my girls are the focus of this book.”
If you would like to purchase the book visit https://amzn.to/2JXiHn1 If you would like more information about joining The Insulin Gang or the Travelling Bears group, then email Donna on donna michellehall@hotmail.com
Above: Cerys, Donna and Alena Donkin and Robert Downey Jr with Sugar the travelling bear.
