Strictly: Nina Wadia mimics Neil Jones during training
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The star, who is recognisable for her part in Goodness Gracious Me and EastEnders is a celebrity ambassador of JDRF, a charity supporting the 400,000 people in the UK living with type 1 diabetes. It was through her work with the charity that the star first spoke out about her young son’s worrying experience. Aiden was only 10 years old when he found out he was diabetic, bursting into tears when the doctor gave him the diagnosis, and Nina’s reaction was not far from this either.
Recalling this experience Nina said: “A finger prick test was done and the nurse said to us, ‘Did you not know he was type 1?’
“I said, ‘type 1 what?’
“I only knew about type 2 diabetes. When it was explained what type 1 was, my knees gave way. I was not expecting something so serious, so chronic.
“When Aidan was told what was happening he burst into tears. He then asked if he would still be able to drink Tropicana orange juice, his favourite. This, at least, we found funny.”
Unaware at the time of what the condition would actually mean for her young son, Nina realised that there had always been signs and symptoms of the condition, but she always thought they were something else.
This came to a horrifying climax when Aiden collapsed whilst the family were on holiday.
Nina continued to explain: “In September of 2017 we were on holiday when we noticed Aidan was drinking a lot of water and going to the toilet more than usual, but because it was very hot, we didn’t think much of it.
“But when he started throwing up violently we cut our trip short and returned to the UK. Within a couple of days he was collapsing and had lost a lot of weight.
“His eyes had rolled back into his head, he had completely collapsed. He was very close to death’s door, and it was terrifying.
“At first we thought a virus Aidan had caught in November 2016 was rearing its ugly head again – but something didn’t feel right so we took him to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London. He was actually carried in by his dad.”
When in the hospital, doctors revealed that Aiden’s blood sugar was at a whopping 23, and normal blood sugar should range between four and seven.
Ever since Aiden’s diagnosis, Nina was told that living with diabetes was “relentless”, but made it her mission to educate herself on the condition and how best to manage it.
Talking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Nina explained the details of a new campaign she is involved with that aims to educate people on how to properly manage diabetes. Explaining about the Time in Range Campaign, Nina said: “It is an educational initiative to raise awareness for time in range and increased access to diabetes care.
“Time in Range (TIR) is a powerful metric for people with diabetes – it’s the time spent with glucose levels in a target range. TIR is easily measured using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology like the Dexcom G6, which uses a small wearable device to measure glucose levels every five minutes, sending the data to the user’s phone and charting out their time in range.
“My son loves tech so I made it my mission to get my hands on whatever there is that will make him okay. This helped me deal with the diagnosis a lot, but I still struggled for the first few months as I couldn’t believe this had happened to my family. A type 1 diagnosis definitely impacts everyone in the family.”
Dexcom is the global leader in continuous glucose monitoring for people with diabetes, and helps to empower people to take real-time control of diabetes through continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGM).
When conducting a survey, Dexcome found that over half (51 percent) of respondents said that they would rather swim with sharks than “go low” during an important meeting or event. And whilst this technology exists, it is not available on the NHS, meaning many cannot afford to use it.
Erik Bjorkman, General Manager EMEA at Dexcom added: “One of the most effective tools is real-time continuous glucose monitoring (rt-CGM), a small, wearable sensor and transmitter that measures and sends real-time glucose values wirelessly to a smart device or receiver without any fingerpricks. At Dexcom, we are pushing for more people to have access to rt-CGM technology so everyone can have the power to make quick diabetes management choices.”
When individuals with type 1 diabetes have low insulin, the quickest way to increase levels is through injection or via a pump. An insulin pump is another form of technology, but gives your body the regular insulin it needs throughout the day and night. They are attached to your body via a tiny tube just under the skin and are easily changeable.
In regards to how Aiden copes with his diabetes, Nina revealed that he was initially nervous and scared about injecting himself, but now realises that his friends are more interested in playing X-Box.
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