During Jubie’s speech, at the recent Sugarplum Dinner, she included an Ode that she had written during one of the very long and lonely nights whilst looking after her daughter Aliena.

An Ode To Type 1

An angry and cruel beast you crept into our lives
Slowly manifesting yourself as a hideous surprise
An evil curse we just can’t shake
Leaving a trail of devastation in your wake
We laugh, we cry, we constantly ask ourselves the question why?
A rollercoaster of highs and lows over the years
With more days than not ending in tears.

Sweets, chocolate and biscuits are banned,
The doing of your very own hand
The same packed lunch every day at school
Whilst everyone tucks into pudding around her,
How can you be so cruel?
Even with constant monitoring perfect results can’t be guaranteed
Counting every single carb as you seem to watch on with glee
So many other factors can turn things awry
However diligent we are and however hard we try.

Night after night you make me want to scream
Waking our precious child from her sweet deep dreams
I walk down the hallway in silence so deep
Keeping a constant watch over her as she sleeps
I hold her hand tightly fingers so small
Constantly questioning why you came to call
I watch her breathing so peaceful and warm
No evidence of the forces inside fighting the constant storm.

Will we ever be free of injections and blood testing
I sit and wonder as I watch her resting
The beep of the meter breaks the silence of the night
A small drop of blood tells me if everything’s alright.
The seconds count down to the final display
I wait with baited breath, knowing the repercussions from it will say
My heart sinks as I see the number is low
Another test done, but a lifetime more to go,
I try to wake her and force feed glucose
How long until she is out of the danger zone who knows
Time passes by, while I wait for the number to rise
And I sit in the darkness and quietly cry.

How can you do this to someone so small?
As strong and as brave she can be,
She will always be my baby most of all.
But I have to stay strong and for her I will fight,
And we will take you on with all our might.
We are teaching her to master and conquer this foe
You will not dare stop her, I have her promised her so.
So don’t for one minute think you’ve won
This battle has only just begun.
Your time is up type 1, your time is now
The curtain is falling, and you must take your final bow.

So know this, little stars, we will fight until the end
And on that you really can depend
With all the money that is going to be raised,
Thousands of childhoods will be saved
And the time is getting closer when you won’t have to be quite so brave.

Written by Jubie Wigan

Aliena Wigan, pictured with the now Prime Minister, Theresa May, at the Sugarplum Dinner 2016.

Yet another apology for not having written anything on the site for a while – juggling work and family life, as well as Sugarplum Children,  seems to be harder than i thought it would be, but I couldn’t not mention the most exciting thing to have happened in a long time – the fact that not only do we have a female prime minister, but more importantly, one who lives with type 1 diabetes.

Having met Theresa at both of my Sugarplum Dinners, I can’t begin to stress enough what an engaging, witty and likeable person she is.  And more important than that, she is a woman of her word and will always support a cause close to her heart whenever possible.   The Sugarplum Dinner last year was held three days after the attacks on Paris, and despite being strong advised by Scotland Yard not to attend any public engagements, the then Home Secretary ignored there advice as she had made a promise to come and show her support, something which meant the world not only to me, but more importantly to Aliena as well.

So how wonderful it is to have a Prime Minister who lives with type 1, to show all children living with any illness that anything really is possible. In her words ‘it doesn’t change what you can do’, an inspiration to any parent or child affected by this unrelenting condition.

Every cloud does indeed have a very bright silver lining.

First of all I’m so so sorry (yet again!) for my silence over the past few months. After the huge (but rather overwhelming) success of the last Sugarplum Dinner, I decided to give myself a bit of a break from all things diabetes, and focus on other areas of my life – obviously looking after my family, and in particular Aliena, meaning that it’s very rare that I ever switch off from thinking about blood sugars or carbs, but I decided I needed a break from the illness beyond the daily routine of managing her type 1.

It always takes me a month or so to readjust once the dinner is over – I throw everything I have into the organisation and thrive on the planning and execution, basking in the glamour and glory of the what we manage to achieve, so as you can imagine, once it’s over, all that remains are the invoices that need to be paid, and the ever present reminders that life with a child who has type 1 is far from glamourous.

But what an exciting few months it’s been – I decided that now that the school are dealing with Aliena’s bloods so well, and I’m lucky enough to have some more help at home, that I’m in a great position go back to work, and I’m so so thrilled to be starting a new three day a week job as of May, as Brand Director for a new men’s and womenswear label. I will of course still run Sugarplum, and will get much better and doing regular newsletters and blog posts, so you will hopefully be hearing a lot more from me!

I finally feel as though I can see the light at the end of what has been a very long tunnel (almost 4 years since what we call D -Day), so I wanted to share this with all fellow parents – that it really does get easier. With a combination of newer technology (the introduction of both FreeStyle Libre and her pump has quite literally changed our lives) and friends and family being less scared to look after her as a result; Aliena being able to take a bit more control of her diabetes; and me finally learning to let go of control both at home and at school, I feel as though I’m finally getting my life back, and I can’t tell you how AMAZING that feels!

I will always be a mother first and foremost, and you know what, a pretty good one at that, but oh boy am I excited to get on that train to London twice a week and remind myself that I used to be good at other things too…for too long I think I have let type 1 define our family, and as Aliena gets older I’m learning she won’t always want it to be this way – we have to learn to let it fit in with our lives, and not the other way round, and it feels pretty empowering making the first step towards doing this.

But panic not, after a well earned break, I’m now back ready to fight our cause with even more passion, energy and fire, so watch this space. As I said in my last speech

‘Where there is a will there is a way, and as any parent of a child who is ill will tell you, our wills are stronger than most – so here I stand dressed in my armour, war paint on my face, ready for battle; so you’d better watch out type 1 because I’m coming for you’. 

We can do it – between us all we can win this fight and ensure that life without type 1 for our precious babies becomes a reality.