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Diabetic Sue Townsend dies

Just read the link. What a shame! I grew up on these books- was the same age as Adrian Mole when I started reading them and loved them. A great loss. My sympathies lie with her family. :(
 
Very sad, RIP Sue.
 
It is sad.

Her later life is a sad testament to the consequences of not controlling your diabetes properly:
She was diagnosed with diabetes in the 1980s and underwent a kidney transplant in 2009. She had the stroke in December 2012.
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She was also blinded by diabetic retinopathy.

The press are saying that is was Type 1, but I've seen her interviewed where she talked about being diagnosed as Type 2 when she was 38. She admits that she managed it very badly in the beginning:
Sue Townsend said:
I guess it was inevitable that I would turn into Mrs McGoo, because I was so reckless with my diabetes - which makes the tiny blood vessels at the back of your eye unstable and weak.
But, in many respects, I've only myself to blame. I used to keep my blood sugar deliberately high so that when I was working in the rehearsal room, say, on one of my plays, I didn't disturb anyone at quiet moments by unwrapping a Mars bar if I felt I was about to slip into a coma.
And I was always in a hurry, leaping on to trains as they moved out of the station, running, running everywhere, forever rushing around from one place to another, and that made it difficult to stick to the diabetic routine. But really I was cavalierly ignoring the fact that I had this disease.
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The article also says that:
The nerve endings in her feet and fingers have also been destroyed, which means she can't read braille, "or pick up any of the skills blind people learn
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http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/hear-my-voice-1-724038

I guess it shows how far we have come since the 1980s in terms of understanding diabetes. (Richard Bernstein didn't invent low-carbing until 1997). But it's a sobering warning about what happens if you don't manage your diabetes properly.
 
Such a shame, never read any of her books or watched the tv series but 68 years old is still no age to die.
 
Very sad indeed-I was a big fan of the Adrian mole books and TV series back in the day.
 
borofergie said:
I guess it shows how far we have come since the 1980s in terms of understanding diabetes. (Richard Bernstein didn't invent low-carbing until 1997).
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Possibly has more to do with the 1980s being the start of the low fat/high carbohydrates craze.

Claude Bernard would be a more likely "inventor" of carbohydrate restriction for diabetes control (at least so far as modern history is concerned). He died 10 Feb 1878.
(William Banting's weight loss diet being a derivative.) So in some ways we may only now be catching up to where things were 100-150 years ago.
 
mpe said:
Claude Bernard would be a more likely "inventor" of carbohydrate restriction for diabetes control (at least so far as modern history is concerned). He died 10 Feb 1878.
(William Banting's weight loss diet being a derivative.) So in some ways we may only now be catching up to where things were 100-150 years ago.
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I meant for diabetic control rather than weight loss. RK Bernstein's innovation was to use a BG meter to measure the effect of carbohydrates on his blood. He got his hands on one of the first meters and changed the game forever.

That's something else that we have to remember about Townsend (and all the diabetics of that era), they didn't have access to BG meters, and so they didn't have any real measure of the harm they were doing to themselves until it was too late. I bet that they didn't have access to HbA1c tests until the 90s either.

Without at BG meter and A1c score to keep me honest, I think that I might have been able to neglect my diabetes too.
 
There, but for the Grace of God, goes ............... Almost any one us.
She is at peace.



Late onset T1, several auto immune issues.
Humalogmix25 twice a day, Methotrexate 25mg once per week, FolicAcid 5mg once per week, prednisolone 5mg daily, Allopurinol 300mg, Calcichew-D3 800iu, Levothyroxine 50mcg, Atenolol 50mg, Losarten 100mg, Aspirin 75mg, Nicorandil 20mg, Nitrolingual GTN spray, Metformin 2000mg, Allimemazine 10mg, Lanzoprazole 30mg, Atorvastatin 20mg, Co Codamol 8/500mg, Depo Medrone (Methylprednisolone) or double Prednisolone for 7 days in case of RA flare.
 
Her books were a standard part of life in our household as my two kids were growing up. They were often chortling about Adrian. I've only read The Cappuccino Years, and I think now I'll start at the beginning and read the lot .... A very funny writer and a fantastic body of work from someone who had to battle with diabetes while achieving so much.
 
Yet another talent gone with the wind :( And yes, a stark reminder what can happen if we adopt the attitude 'It'll never happen to me'.

RIP Sue and thank you for all the pleasure you gave to me and my kids
 
popsy said:
Yet another talent gone with the wind :( And yes, a stark reminder what can happen if we adopt the attitude 'It'll never happen to me'.
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Totally agree Popsy, Sue by her own admission didn't take her diabetes seriously and described herself as a ''bad diabetic'' on more than one occasion, the pain and anguish she must have felt after first losing her sight and then suffering kidney failure is unimaginable.
 
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