Diabetes NZ campaigns nationally for glucose monitors

An 11-year-old with type-1 diabetes and his mum are taking part in a nationwide campaign with Diabetes New Zealand to advocate for the importance of glucose monitors.

Diabetes New Zealand asked people with diabetes to post on social media earlier this week about the burdens of being a diabetic.

Jaylen-Blaze Daane was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes when he was two and a half years old.

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His mum Toni Daane said the journey has been like the likes of “constantly having a newborn”.

“Before he had his CGM, I would wake up depending on how his day was to check his levels. You kind of feel a bit sleep-deprived,” she said.

Jaylen-Blaze has been taking part in the CREATE (Community deRivEd AutomaTEd insulin delivery) Trial by University of Otago.

Through the trial, he has been provided a Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitor, which Toni called the “Ferrari of glucose monitors”.

The Dexcom had been life-changing for both Jaylen-Blaze and Toni, as it sends in notifications for whenever blood sugar levels are high or low, which not all monitors can provide.

Once the trial is over, the Dexcom would need to be returned and the Daanes are worried about how they would cope without it, Toni said.

University of Otago associate professor Ben Wheeler has been responsible for the Dunedin study site for the CREATE trial and said the yearly cost of running and owning a Dexcom CGM was approximately $4500.

There has been a petition in parliament since November 2019 to get Pharmac to fund CGMs.

Pharmac director of operations Lisa Williams said it had evaluated three funding applications for CGMs, which included Freestyle Libre Flash glucose monitoring system, G6 continuous glucose monitoring (Dexcom) and Medtronic continuous glucose monitoring systems - Guardian 3 and Guardian Connect (Guardian).

“The Freestyle Libre Flash and Dexcom CGMs have been reviewed by our Diabetes Advisory Committee and recommended for funding. We have completed our assessment of these products and ranked them on our Options for Investment list. This means they are products we would like to fund when we have available budget,” Williams said.

Diabetes NZ Chief Executive Heather Verry said in a statement regarding the campaign: “This equipment shouldn’t be treated as a luxury. The technology to live a normal, healthy life is there, but Kiwis aren’t given access to it.”