Autumn Lawrence-Bunnell

My story:

Many of you who are reading this might not know that I have Type 1 Diabetes. I was diagnosed on 02/10/2009, at the age of 6. 

I am not someone who will proudly show off that I have Type 1 Diabetes, and although I wear my insulin pump on my hip, and my CGM on my arm, I try and hide it as much as possible to fit in. Living with diabetes for 16 years has had its ups and downs, late nights, many hospital visits and stays, as well as needles and blood tests. Life has never been “normal” and it will never be, unless we find a cure. I haven’t always been on an insulin pump and for the first 4 years of being diagnosed, I was injecting doses of insulin, with a needle, up to 4 times a day into my body, and using a small machine to draw blood to test the amount of sugar that lives within my blood stream. This was tiring and never ending. I would have scars and bruises on my body where I would draw blood and where I would inject the insulin. I felt and looked like an overused pin cushion. 

Fast forward to today, where needle injections are replaced with a small machine, called an insulin pump, that sits on my clothing, pumping insulin into my body through a small tube connected at the hip. Which by the way, stays connected to me at all times, 24 hours of every day. Drawing blood through my finger tips to test my blood sugars, have been replaced with a small device piercing my skin, testing my blood sugars every 5 minutes. It sounds painful but I can promise you it’s not! This small device called a CGM (Continuous blood Glucose Monitor) is connected through Bluetooth to my insulin pump which then delivers a calculated amount of insulin to balance my blood sugars. 

Insulin isn’t always injected through big doses as well. Some are small, some are medium, and some are big. I could be eating, working, sleeping, exercising, or just living my normal life. It just depends on what I am doing. But it never stops. 

Every second, every minute, and every hour. All. The. Time. There is no stopping. 

The alerts, the sounds, the vibrations, the pinches, the piercing. All day. Everyday. 

Although this sounds like a sad story, I will never let this autoimmune disease define me or bring me down. As you can see the path of finding a cure draws closer than ever before. And I need you to help me and others living with type 1 diabetes through a donation, even as small as $5 would mean the world to me. 

I'm walking in Melbourne to turn type one into type none!

I'm joining the world's largest walk for a future without type 1 diabetes (T1D) at Princes Park on Sunday 2 March 2025!

Why? To help fund life-changing research aimed at improving lives and curing T1D. 

Type 1 diabetes can strike anyone at any time, and 8 Australians are diagnosed every day. Diagnosis means a 24/7 fight with no break and facing an extra 180 decisions a day to remain safe and healthy. 

Please support my walk today.