My little brother, well not so little these days, has Type I Diabetes. He was diagnosed when he was 12 years old. If you too are diabetic and looking for diabetic travel insurance, then you will understand the life changes involved for the entire family.
Nick was tall, fit, sporty, good looking and desperately wanted to join the Police Force. He wanted to go into the Army like his dad and granddad, careers which were denied him. He became a very angry young man and deeply resented “being different”. This meant he was what medics would term a “non-compliant” patient.
Those of you with teenaged Type I Diabetics will recognise this, I am sure. The consequences for the family were that every family holiday became a saga of hospital admissions for hypo’s. This was because he failed to eat at the right time or didn’t check his blood sugar levels. As he grew older, he indulged in too much beer with his mates.
Back then diabetic travel insurance was simply not available. So my poor long suffering mother had to cope as best she could. On one memorable trip to play football in Belgium, he was knocked down in the dark. His mates brought him home lying in the back of a hired van with a fractured tibia for admission to hospital in Dover. They had no spare funds and knew no better.
Fortunately he is a now a fit, healthy, sporty adult and a qualified personal trainer. His diabetes is well controlled and he is able to obtain travel insurance for diabetes with full cover for any emergency which might arise.
I learned however that Diabetes need not be a life sentence and definitely does not mean that the sufferer cannot enjoy a holiday. Some sensible precautions are necessary in advance. These include checking that suitable meals will be available at the right times and facilities for storage of insulin. Other medical kit can also be offered.
But most importantly these days, medical conditions travel insurance with a 24 hour helpline means that if things do go awry, immediate help is at hand and extra expenses are covered.
Thanks to Tricia Pearson-Tietema our Head of Medical Underwriting for today’s blog.
