
By Batsirai Hove
ON a Saturday afternoon, it was just a few moments ago that she was just this bubbly soul. She was about to get into an episode as her face changed into a depressive state. She excused herself from the room to chug down a PET bottle of Coca Cola.
“I could feel my sugar levels were getting low which is why I had to take the Coke to raise my blood sugar levels to normalcy,” explains Diabetes advocate Tashinga Neshamba.
Knowing her status at the age of 12 was not that difficult for her as she had a supportive teacher, but the comfort zone was to shrink at High School.
“So, when I got diagnosed, maybe it was because my primary school was very supportive l. At Grade 6 or 7, I was okay. The challenge came when I was at high school with people who did not understand, and you would want to fit in.
“I would turn out eating everything and at that phase I was in denial, but when I got to meet Ambassador Tino Dzikiti, he really made life easier for me,” she said.
At High School with her glucometer for regular checking of her blood sugar level, her schoolmates would ridicule her as having brought pregnancy test kit.
“Isn’t it funny I still know the date? And regarding being isolated, the stigma part is hard. I still remember when I was in high school where people did not have knowledge about diabetes, I actually went to school with my glucometer and people thought it was a pregnancy test,” added Tashinga.
Tashinga went on to say that the condition took a toll on her mental health to the extent that a lot of questions flooded her mind. She bemoaned the fact that most people do not understand what people living with diabetes go through. Sometimes people tend to say a lot of negative stuff about diabetics, thereby making them feel alone. According to Tashinga this at times makes one to ask why it had to happen to them, but then you end up asking yourself, if it wasn’t me then to whom should this have happened.
For ten years, this 22-year-old young effervescent type 1 diabetic looks back and describes her journey as a rollercoaster ride. She was diagnosed of diabetes when she was just 12. It will be 10 years of living with this condition on May the 28th for Tashinga. During the past decade, she says there have been many ups and downs, but she is grateful that she is still surviving. Tashinga actually alluded to the fact that she is one of the survivors in Zimbabwe. Ironically, the name Tashinga, loosely translated alludes to embarking on a journey in life then come out victorious against all odds, despite difficulties along the way.
The youthful Tashinga just could not help but mention how her first encounter with Dzikiti transformed her diabetic journey. After meeting with Dzikiti, she found comfort in numbers where they shared about their experiences.
“It really made life easier for me, I don’t want to lie. Getting to meet other diabetic patients, mixing and mingling, sharing our stories and all that. I think that was when my breakthrough came, whereby I started understanding that, okay, this is me. I cannot run away from it. We inject ourselves. We have hypos, we have hypers, or even diabetes ketoacidosis (DKA) sometimes, but we fight,” she added.
While in denial, Tashinga’s blood sugar levels spiked a lot of times, leading to many hospitalisations.
“DKA, is whereby your blood sugar levels are very, very high. I have been in those DKA episodes several times since my diagnosis, and I have been admitted to hospital due to that on countless occasions. It was during that time that I was still in denial,” she opened up.
While Type 1 diabetes is usually detected amongst teens into their puberty, after visiting Mozambique, another affected mother, Thelma Roberts was about to discover her baby had the condition. To her it seemed the child had malaria but the treatment he got supposedly for malaria, seemed to worsen the condition.
“My child got sick it was after a trip from Mozambique. So, we thought he had malaria. He is 2 now and by then he was only 18 months old. We came from Mozambique; he was sickly showing malaria symptoms. We took him to a hospital to test for malaria, and he was found negative.
“He was given antibiotics, we stayed for two days, and the child was not getting any better. He was getting worse. He was neither drinking nor eating, yet his diapers were getting full. We would change four diapers a day. We decided to take him to a private hospital,” she explained.
It was then that they tested him, and blood sugar levels were high. And from there they transferred us to Parirenyatwa ICU for about 12 days and then we are here today.”
Thelma had to endure moments where even after doing everything right, her baby boy still had a high sugar level. She noted that diabetic patients’ caregivers need regular mental therapies as they go through a lot while taking care of patients.
“Somehow, I think it is a blessing because we managed to find out what he had and now I know what I am dealing with. It is unfortunate that we are in the less developed world, where facilities are not of the best standards but as caregivers, we need regular mental therapy sessions because it takes a toll on our mind. It’s not easy dealing with this disease,” she said.
“When your child gets into hypoglycaemia, sometimes they don’t wake up easy. You have to take them to hospital when they faint. Maybe two hours the child has fainted, and you are carrying your child, and you don’t know whether the child is lifeless or not.”
Sally Mugabe Children’s Hospital paediatrician specialising in diabetes, Dr Prisca Mureriwa said the incidence in Africa is phenomenally high.
“The incidence of diabetes in the world is increasing as latest figures show a 51 percent increase. In Europe it is 15 percent and in Africa we have 143 percent.
“Some of the reasons include the fact that in the past we didn’t know about insulin. When a child would pee on himself in the blankets while sleeping, they would be beaten instead of being sent to the hospital. The other reason is the diets we have. There are various diseases such as COVID-19 which exacerbated diabetes. There are many things happening which make people vulnerable to diabetes,” added Dr Mureriwa.
She said Type 1 diabetes is common amongst teens who will be undergoing puberty.
Dr Mureriwa also said that they were witnessing many kids getting Type 1 diagnosis, a phenomenon which didn’t happen back then. At the moment, type 1 diabetes is incurable, but one can live and lead a healthy life, under treatment. Aging with insulin is common and health authorities hope to see children grow old, while on treatment, injecting themselves with the insulin.