The Editor,
Re. “B.C. should pay for pumps” (Letters, The Tri-City News, April 21).
This is a topic close to my heart as I have two sons with Type 1 diabetes.
One of my sons uses the diabetic pump and the pump if expensive. I believe that my son said it’s hundreds of dollars. In his case, he can claim some of the cost on his income tax. He can afford to buy a pump, when necessary, which i think is every few years. That said, a lot of people do not have the money to buy the pump when needed.
So, here is the fact: My sons were born with this disease and have dealt with a lot of health problems because of it. One of my sons has already lost two toes and, recently, almost lost his leg. On the other hand, drug addicts choose to do drugs.
We, as taxpayers, in a lot of cases, end up supporting drug addicts and a lot of them can get their needles free while my sons have had to pay for theirs.
Something is wrong with this picture.
In raising my sons, a lot of times, I did not have the money for their needles and, at really bad times, no money for their insulin. This would end up with me, in the case of the needles, having to boil one to use. You are not suppose to re-use these needles; not only can doing so cause hepatitis, the needles can become dull — very painful for injections.
As far as not having the insulin, i would have to find a way to take my sons to the hospital for a shot.
I certainly did not have any financial help in dealing with the costs of diabetes. Nothing was free for me.
I would like to see free medication for anyone who is dealing with a life-threatening situation. Obviously, this should be as much as a concern for folks as drug addicts are for the bleeding hearts.
Candace Gair,
Port Coquitlam
