Genetics and neonatal diabetes: how Jack was spared a life of injections

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Northerner

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At 17 days old, Jack Neighbour was diagnosed with neonatal diabetes. For the next five years, his blood sugar levels would vary wildly all day long, he had seizures and his mother, Emma, would often find him unconscious. "It was horrific, absolutely horrific. He didn't speak at all," she says.

Jack could never be left alone or with anyone who didn't know his routine. He had four injections of insulin every day and his blood sugar levels needed checking up to 10 times a day, including in the middle of the night. "That, in itself, means you have to pierce the skin with a little needle to take some blood out and test it on a machine ? it was very distressing for him," says Emma. At one point, the seizures Jack suffered led to his brain being starved of oxygen and he suffered permanent brain damage that slowed his mental development.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/04/genetics-neonatal-diabetes-jack-neighbour
 
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