Four-year-old Morecambe girl with diabetes raises £1,200 with sweets

Four-year-old Maisy Dickson, from Morecambe. was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes shortly before Halloween and couldn’t eat the sweets she’d been given by friends and family.

So Maisy, dad Chris and mum Sharon came up with a ‘guess the number of sweets in the jar’ online competition and asked people to pledge money to take part.

Half the money raised will go to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary children’s ward and the other half will set up a local group for families living with diabetes.

Maisy, who must have five insulin injections a day to control her blood sugar levels, had only just started at Great Wood school, Bare, Morecambe, when she was diagnosed.

“We just noticed a change in her in a couple of days,” said Chris.

“She was drinking a lot more and very irritable.

“We knew nothing about diabetes. We’ve been learning about how to give insulin and how much to give her.

“She can still have a sweet or a piece of chocolate cake but it’s all in moderation.

“For a four-year-old it’s quite a change. And she hates needles. We knew she wouldn’t be able to eat all the sweets she got for Halloween so we thought we’d use them to raise money. The support we’ve had is fantastic.”

Type 1 diabetes develops when the insulin-producing cells in the body have been destroyed and the body is unable to produce any insulin – a hormone which helps your body use the glucose in your blood to give you energy.

It is the most common 
type of diabetes found in children.

More than £1,000 was raised in just 24 hours 
after Maisy’s online page went live.

lYou can take part in Maisy’s sweet competition HERE