'Disturbing' sight under 11-year-old's swimsuit tipped mum off to life-threatening condition – 9Honey

By Maddison Leach| 1 day ago
Bianca Park knew something was wrong when she could see her 11-year-old daughter's hip bones jutting out from beneath the thin material of her swimming costume.
"I could see her shoulder blades protruding, her collar bones protruding and that was just really disturbing," the Gold Coast mum tells 9Honey.
Mila Park had been losing weight rapidly despite eating almost twice as much as usual, but Bianca didn't want to affect her daughter's body image by bringing it up.
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"She looked almost anorexic, although we couldn't say anything to her because we would never talk about what you look like… we didn't even use the word weight in our family," Bianca admits.
Yet Mila's pale skin and gaunt face scared her mum, and the mystery symptoms were about to get worse.
At the start of 2022, the usually energetic 11-year-old became lethargic and despondent in what Bianca thought may have been a reaction to the COVID-19 virus.
"Then she lost her eyesight, which was really disturbing. We went from being able to read for 45 minutes a day… to not being able to read anything at night because her eyes were blurry," Bianca says.
"She was foggy and confused and she didn't know why she felt like that… During the week before she got diagnosed I was worried that she was almost going into comas."
Terrified for her daughter, Bianca rushed Mila to the GP's office for blood tests but something told her to call a doctor friend on the drive home while she waited for results.
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"I explained the signs and symptoms and she said, 'did the GP do a finger prick test or a urine test?' …as soon as she said finger prick test, I knew she thought it was diabetes," Bianca recalls.
Within the hour Bianca was Googling the disease, but didn't say anything to Mila. The last thing she wanted to do was scare her daughter with a diagnosis that wasn't even confirmed.
The next day, they arrived for the blood test results and did a finger prick test.
"As soon as we came back into the room and Mila saw the blood glucose metre, she said, 'have I got diabetes?' To which her brother then said, 'what's diabetes?'" Bianca recalls with a laugh.
In a twist no one saw coming, Mila spent the next few minutes explaining her Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis to the doctor, her mum and little brother.
When asked how she knew so much about the condition, the 11-year-old said she'd read about it in one of her Babysitters Club books.
"It was frightening [but] she knew what she was in for and that it would be a lifelong disease… she probably knew more about it than I did," Bianca concedes.
Though Mila took the diagnosis in her stride, it was still a massive change for the family. 
The 11-year-old's diet had to be totally overhauled, her blood sugar levels, food, stress and exercise tracked and she'll have to manage the life-threatening condition for the rest of her life.
Bianca has feared for her daughter's health every single day since her diagnosis and she knows that fear will live in the back of her mind for the rest of her life.
"If she doesn't have insulin, then she could go into a diabetic coma and we might lose her," she says with a tremor in her voice.
"That is the fear that every parent lives with when you have a child with diabetes."
Mila's insulin is managed with a pump system, which Bianca and husband Sandy had to choose for their daughter within just 24 hours of her initial diagnosis.
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Fortunately they had private health insurance and could get a pump quickly; without that insurance, Mila could have been on a waitlist for weeks, months or years.
"I was basically researching, calling every single Type 1 diabetic I knew, asking them about their pumps, reading research reports," Bianca recalls of the rush to choose a pump.
"She was admitted at 4pm and by midday the next day I needed to make a decision."
Initially she wanted Mila on the Omnipod DASH system, an alternative to traditional insulin pumps made up of a tubeless Pod and a handheld Personal Diabetes Manager device.
The system was not government subsidised and would cost the family about $8,000 per year. Hospital staff encouraged them to choose a more common option for Mila instead.
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"I was quite angry because I wanted the best solution for my daughter… in the end we were talked into a different pump, which was our second choice," Bianca says.
But that pump was heavy and cumbersome for young Mila and within a few weeks Bianca could see her daughter's quality of life had taken a nosedive.
It had to be attached to her 24/7 andmade it difficult for her to participate in her favourite activities, like swimming, snowboarding or dancing. 
"She was at a sleepover multiple times and the cord would come out in the middle of the night, which basically means you're not getting insulin and then your blood glucose can run high… that was frustrating for her," Bianca added.
It was so large that Mila had to wear the device in a bumbag around her waist, making it very noticeable at school and on the playground.
"I was a bit overwhelmed and I was really scared that my friends would treat me differently since I had diabetes," the 11-year-old tells 9Honey.
"But they were actually really understanding and I put together a presentation, explaining it to them… I was really happy that they understood me."
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Even though Mila had astounded her parents with how well she adapted to her diagnosis, Bianca and husband Sandy couldn't stand seeing how much the pump was impacting their daughter's childhood.
After just a few months, they decided to commit to the $8,000 yearly cost to move her onto the smaller, more discreet Omnipod system and didn't look back.
In the last year alone Mila has been named her school captain, snagged the lead role in a musical, won a snowboarding championship and proved that her Type 1 diabetes diagnosis can't hold her back.
"It's pushed her to be stronger, better, braver," Bianca says through tears.
"And that makes us incredibly proud because I know that there are other little girls and boys that this probably has happened to and it can feel like the end of the world."
But seeing how much her daughter is thriving since moving onto the wireless Omnipod system has left Bianca conflicted because so many Aussie families simply can't access treatment systems like this one.
The average Australian has an income of $52,338, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and the cost of the $8,000 per year system would eat up over 15 per cent of that.
Fortunately for families like Mila's, the Omnipod treatment system is now publicly subsidised for those with private health insurance and meet the eligibility criteria, reducing the cost to just $29.30 per month or $351.60 per year.
A smaller subsidy is also available for those without private insurance through the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS), bringing it down to a monthly cost of $168.27 or $2019.14 per year, provided they meet certain criteria.
Yet Bianca fears these limited subsidies, which were introduced on December 1, 2022, aren't enough.
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"If you can't afford private health insurance, how can you afford $200 a month for the Omnipod? That's still a lot of people that can't access it," she says.
"The costs of going to these specialists to get you onto the system [NDSS, which is required for the other subsidy] is quite a barrier in itself. It's not like the GP can set you up with this."
Having experienced firsthand the emotional upheaval and financial strain of keeping a child with Type One Diabetes thriving, Bianca is calling for more subsidised systems like the one Mila is using so no Aussie child with diabetes has to miss out on their childhood.
Australians living with type 1 diabetes who are interested in accessing Omnipod are encouraged to check their eligibility through the NDSS, and speak with their healthcare provider. For more information, click here.
Please note, the medical information in this article is specific to the case study discussed, and should not be relied upon in lieu of medical advice that is specific to your condition. When using an Omnipod device, always follow the directions for use.
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