My name is Ruby, I’m fourteen and I have chronic organ failure. I’m scared, angry, confused and quite frankly I feel violated because I’ve been denied a medication, by the government, that keeps me alive. Please read.

The UK government has stopped funding medication for Type One Diabetic children. The specific medication is called Lift, and it’s a glucose drink that diabetics use to help bring up their blood sugar when it’s low (for future reference, low blood sugar = hypo). Many diabetic children rely on Lift when they’re low, and for many it’s the ONLY medication that works. Without hypo treatment, a low could lead to fainting, unconsciousness, seizures, and fits and at its worse case, a diabetic coma. You can see why Lift is a very important medication for diabetics, and how serious the effects are if we don’t have it. And in only a matter of time, we won’t have it.

A number of things will happen if this doesn’t change, but the most important in my opinion is; diabetic children might and probably will die without this medication. Most likely small children. I’m talking babies and toddlers. There are parents of diabetic infants throughout the UK terrified because once their supply of Lift runs out, their child won’t eat, won’t sleep, won’t be able to function as a human should. For some kids, Lift is the only thing keeping them alive when they go low. For some kids, Lift is the only treatment that works. And the government is ripping that away from them in order to cut down costs. It’s disgusting. 

Lift costs £2 per bottle. Going off personal experience, I can get through seven or eight bottles a day (on a bad day). That amounts to almost £100 A WEEK. TO KEEP CHILDREN ALIVE. Parents cannot and should NOT have to afford this. But I get Disability Living Allowance! Hooray! Oh wait, that runs out when I turn sixteen. As a child, it is terrifying to know that once I turn reach that age, I am alone, and expected to fund not only Lift, but an entire life support system BY MYSELF. The least the government can do is pay for some fancy Lucozade, don’t you think?

But this isn’t about that. My main message is:

The government has stopped funding medication for chronically ill children. Without this medication, children will die. 

Think about that. Please sign this petition in support of diabetics all over the UK who are suffering. We need voices. We need to be heard. We need your signature.

Thank you for reading.

Please reach me on:

insta: @rubyscooby.doo                                                                   gmail: diabeticruby2019@gmail.com