Barton Peveril student Amy Winchcombe has addressed delegates at the Diabetes Professional Care Conference in Olympia about how she successfully lives with the condition. She told the audience of health care professionals how her life has been improved through using an insulin pump to deliver the lifesaving drug instead of injecting it four times a day.
Amy developed Type One Diabetes in 2010 and was the first patient at Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital to receive the Animas Vibe Insulin Pump two years later. It supplies the right dose of insulin into her body automatically. “The pump’s definitely made a difference to my life, especially as I don’t like needles,” she says. “I’ve spoken at national conferences before to give a patient’s perspective of the condition, this year’s talk was called ‘The Power of the Pump’.”
Amy says the device was especially invaluable while she was backpacking around India: “It would have been very difficult to prepare injections during several long train journeys, the pump means it’s much easier to keep the diabetes under control.”
Amy, who went to Wyvern College, is studying for A levels in Biology, Chemistry, Psychology with AS Maths and is aiming for a career in medicine.
