There is nobody else in Britain like Taylor Banks. Like thousands, he has type 1 diabetes. But unlike them, Taylor is allergic to insulin.
His parents, based in Leigh, in Greater Manchester, have tried everything. They’ve exhausted the resources in their local area. Their last option is to take seven-year-old Taylor to London, to the renowned Great Ormond Street, where he will receive specialist care.
Type 1 diabetes develops when the immune system wrongly identifies insulin-producing cells as foreign invaders. People with type 1 diabetes need regular insulin injections to prevent dangerously high blood glucose levels, which can, if left untreated, lead to coma and death.
Taylor, now seven, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of two. The news would have been difficult for any parent, but with Taylor’s accompanying insulin allergy, it was devastating.
“It was heartbreaking, I won’t lie,” said Taylor’s dad, Scott.
“Nothing prepares you for hearing that your two year old child only has a 50/50 chance of waking up the next day. Me and my partner, we were heartbroken. Nothing prepares you for something like that.
It was a few years before Taylor’s insulin allergy was identified. For a while, his parents weren’t sure why Taylor was in so much pain when they injected him – or why his skin and muscles were damaged.
Despite his allergy, Taylor still has to have his injections. But for him, they’re agonisingly painful. His parents have taken to constantly rotating his injection sites in order to minimise the damage his injections cause.
Now the Banks family are running out of options.
“The channels that we’ve gone down, and the people that we’ve spoken to all over the country show he is the only one in the country that has this condition. I don’t know how far afield that goes in terms of going abroad, but from what we know, he is definitely the only one in the country to have this sort of allergy to insulin.
“One day he could be like any other diabetic child, a good day. But another day, he could end up in A & E. That’s just Taylor’s life, he’s so erratic. He could have a day of good numbers, but unfortunately for Taylor they are very rare.
Scott speaks movingly of Taylor’s positive attitude, in spite of the challenges he faces:
“Everything that comes with it, the things that he misses out on as a child, it’s heartbreaking to know that he’s going through it at such a young age on his own. But if you met Taylor, you’d know, he’s never not got a smile on his face.
“There’s nobody else like him. He’s now the self-proclaimed King of Diabetes! He just takes it like that, because he doesn’t know any different, he’s been like this ever since he was two years old. So for Taylor, this is just another day at the office.
“If you met him, you wouldn’t know how poorly he is. Because he’s like any other child you’d meet. He’s an inspiration, he really is.”
Taylor’s family has set up a crowd-funding page to send Taylor and his parents to Disneyland. Let’s promote it. Share this page with your friends and family to give them the treat they so thoroughly deserve.
You can donate here.
Image source: wishfm.net
