Lavinia’s searchfor a cure

LAVINIA Martin wants to find a cure for type one diabetes. The Upper Beaconsfield eight-year-old, who was diagnosed as having the disease in December 2008, is doing her best to help raise money to find a cure.
Since becoming a diabetic Lavinia has raised more than $6000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) – an organisation that is searching for a cure.
Her diagnosis came as a bit of a shock for Lavinia and her family.
The warning signs first came when she was out for dinner with her mum and grandmother.
Before the meals arrived she drank a whole carafe of water by herself, not bad for a seven-year-old. She then went with them to watch her sister’s dance concert, but could not sit still because she was so thirsty.
The next morning Lavinia was taken to the doctors who diagnosed her with the auto-immune disease on the spot.
She was then taken to the Monash Medical Centre, where her blood glucose levels were stabilised for 48 hours.
Friends visited, but wouldn’t go into the room, afraid they would catch the illness, something that resonated once she returned to school.
“The other kids didn’t want to play with me,” Lavinia said.
“They were scared of it.
“Except for one of my friends, she was still scared but she still played with me.”
Things have since returned to normal after Lavinia told them about her illness.
Mum Joanne helps Lavinia control her diabetes, knowing how to count points and how much insulin she should inject as well as the nasty finger pricks to test sugar levels.
“I don’t like the finger pricks,” Lavinia said.
Each day Lavinia has two injections and checks her blood sugar levels at least three times a day. But all that could soon stop. Lavinia is currently on the waiting list for an insulin pump – a device that will measure blood levels and automatically feed her body insulin.
During her journey of learning to live with the disease Lavinia said she had met some “pretty cool” people along the way.
She has discussed their shared hatred of finger pricks with Bass MP Ken Smith (who is also a diabetic), sat in Carrum MP Jenny Lindell’s chair in State Parliament and met a number of other diabetics during her duties as JDRF youth ambassador.
As well as writing letters to local politicians and holding information booths in local shopping centres, Lavinia is making sure she is getting the message through about diabetes.
She was awarded in the top three Victorian JDRF advocates in December and has no plans to stop.
“This year they are choosing 100 of us to go to Canberra,” she said.
“I want to go to that.”
But it all hasn’t been blue skies, when Lavinia was first diagnosed she wouldn’t talk to her mum or dad for days and cried when she was given injections. A promise of Hannah Montana removable tattoos changed all that.
“We had a friend who has tattoos on his arms, so he told Lavinia that she could have a tattoo for every time she didn’t cry,” Jo said.
“I left the hospital with 19,” Lavinia said.
This year Lavinia will help host a Teddy Bears’ picnic alongside LaTrobe MP Jason Wood, with all funds raised going directly to JDRF.
It will be held at Akoonah Park, Berwick on May 8.
Mr Wood said he first became involved in the project after receiving a letter from Lavinia and her mum.
“I was touched by what these kids go through,” he said.
“Lavinia was one of these young people.
“The Teddy Bears’ Picnic is an opportunity for our local community to get behind our youngsters to try to find a cure for juvenile diabetes.”