SUBMITTED
When Nicki Manning was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in Brooks, it took almost 10 years before she was introduced to another person with the same chronic condition.
Receiving a life-changing diagnosis can be scary and lonely, even moreso in a small community with less opportunity to meet people with the same diagnosis.
Today, Manning is a unit clerk at the Brooks Health Centre where she’s helping newly-diagnosed patients know they aren’t alone, alongside colleagues in the Alberta Health Living Program and in partnership with the Brooks Health Foundation.
Type 1 diabetes is most often diagnosed in childhood, limiting the options children have to engage with online communities and supports.
“I follow a whole bunch of inspirational Type 1 people online and they’re motivating and show that we can do hard things,” says Manning.
“But kids can’t join social media until they’re a bit older, so I was thinking about what could help introduce them to this new community.”
Inspired by bears seen elsewhere, Manning purchased buttons that look like the continuous glucose monitor worn by Type 1 diabetics to monitor their blood sugar levels. After mentioning the project to Shawna James, coordinator of the Brooks Health Foundation, Manning found herself with a closet full of bears to choose from.
“I grabbed a handful of bears from the foundation, and with my amateur sewing skills, stitched the buttons on the back of their arms,” says Manning. “It takes me five minutes to do and the look on the kids’ faces is perfect.”
Often, Manning meets newly-diagnosed patients in the emergency department — like Allison Lelek and her mom, Robyn Preston. Receiving a gift and connection from someone who’s been in those same shoes helps make a scary time a little less intimidating.
“The feeling of inclusion in these bears, I can’t even explain it,” says Preston. “Just the fact that she’s got something that represents her and the things that she goes through.”
Manning met Lelek when she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last spring. By sharing some of her own experience, she hopes to give a realistic view of what it’s like to be diabetic.
“I feel like it’s important for parents to see me and know that I’m OK,” says Manning. “I have a career, I have a family, I have a good relationship with my diabetes — and it’s doable.”
Manning is proud to represent people with Type 1 diabetes in her community, and is glad she’s found a way to connect with newly-diagnosed children in her community.
“This is such a simple little gesture to help comfort them, so they can see they’re not alone,” says Manning. “This bear is a symbol. We’re always attached to something — I have an insulin pump on and it’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This bear also has this attachment.
“It’s small, but it’s meaningful.”
