March Star Supporter – Karen Emmott

We are starting a new feature which focuses on some of The Pendsey Trusts supporters and why they chose to become involved in improving the lives of individuals living with Type 1 diabetes in India. This months supporter is Karen Emmott from Leeds. Karen has supported her friend Jo to organise, plan and market fundraising events around West Yorkshire, as well as providing invaluable support and assistance on the day. We asked Karen to write a blog about why she choses to get involved in The Pendsey Trusts fundraising events.

I’m a mum to a little boy. He’s 3 and a half. I worry about the every day things, and I probably worry too much. But I’m fortunate that I don’t have to worry about his health. I take it for granted. And I’d never really thought about the impact of something so life changing as being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes until my friend Jo explained to me her son Oliver’s diagnosis, and introduced me to the valuable work the Pendsey Trust do. I can only imagine the worries that you face for your child, with such a life threatening condition. As well as the upset of hurtful comments, insinuating that this is somehow the parents fault for letting the child eat too many sweets.

 While I can imagine the worry for parents, at least we can take some comfort from the NHS. Again, something I have taken for granted. A few weeks ago, my little boy put a pencil in his ear. Which got stuck. Three trips to the hospital and a general anaesthetic later and it was finally out. The hospital staff were great, and I was highly embarrassed that we were wasting NHS resources for something so trivial. But we are lucky to have the NHS. And we are lucky to live in a country that is able to provide life saving treatment for diabetes.

 Some aren’t so lucky. In some countries, children are dying because they don’t have access to insulin. They don’t have the resources or the treatment to help them manage their diabetes. They aren’t as lucky as us to have treatment available on the NHS. And that is where The Pendsey Trust come in. They help provide these life changing, and often life saving resources. They help educate people, and help people set us businesses to earn enough money to buy the life saving drugs they need.

This is a charity that as a parent, I am more than happy to support. As well as my time, and some donations, we’ve also attended some great events. The most recent was a Lego fun day, where my little one had lots of fun and got to build a Lego tower and test it on an earthquake simulator (his withstood the earthquake, mine didn’t!)  We both loved the event, as well as being able to support such a good cause through buying a ticket. We are very much looking forward to the next one. And I’m sure we will see you all there!

The Pendsey Trust would like to  Bricks 4 Kids West Yorkshire for working with us to make Lego day a success, we raised £550 in total from the afternoon. Bricks 4 Kids arrange Lego themed childrens parties, holiday camps and can also provide educational sessions to schools, scouting groups, playschemes, etc. Click here for their website.