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Episode 33: One Family’s Type 1 Journey (Part 2 - Life on the Road)
110 Plays1 month ago
In Part Two of this conversation, Jacqui and Liz shift from diagnosis to what life actually looks like afterwards and how Type 1 doesn’t have to limit dreams, adventure, or possibility.
Liz shares how her family made the bold decision to continue with their long-held dream of travelling Australia, even after both of her sons were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Eighteen months after Dan’s diagnosis, the family packed up their off-road van and began a 12-month lap of Australia, tackling some of the most remote regions in the country.
Liz walks us through the real-life logistics of managing Type 1 for two children while living on the road — from organising spare loan pumps, transmitters, CGMs, and NDSS supply drops, to carefully planning resupply points in towns like Cairns, Darwin, and Broome. She explains how preparation, organisation and flexibility made it possible to travel far from hospitals without fear.
Together, Jacqui and Liz reflect on how confidence grows over time — from the fear of letting a child out of your sight after diagnosis, to navigating remote hikes, off-grid living and day-to-day adventures. Liz also highlights the role of technology, including pumps, CGMs and Starlink internet, in helping families stay connected, safe and supported wherever they are.
The episode wraps with practical tips for travelling with Type 1, including hypo treatments that work best on the road and a message that sits at the heart of Liz’s journey: Type 1 is something her children carry, not something that defines or limits them.
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose
00:00:00
Speaker
The content provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Reliance on any information provided by this podcast is solely at your own risk.
00:00:23
Speaker
Welcome to the Type 1 Club. Whether you're a parent grappling with a new diagnosis, a caregiver seeking guidance, or simply someone wanting to learn more about type 1 diabetes, this podcast is for you.
00:00:36
Speaker
Together, let's dispel myths, break down barriers and build a community of understanding and resilience. Join us as we embark on this journey together, because with knowledge, compassion and support, no one should ever feel alone in managing type 1 diabetes.
00:00:54
Speaker
Welcome to the Type 1 Club.
Meet the Host and Guest
00:01:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to this Sports Night episode of the Type 1 Club. i am your host, Jackie Kidman. am 1 mum to... Harvey, who was diagnosed in June 2022 at the age of seven.
00:01:15
Speaker
Today, I bring you the second half of the episode with Liz, who shared with us in the previous episode, which is episode 32. So if you haven't listened to that, I encourage you to go back and listen, and it gives you way more context into what Liz is going to share in this episode.
00:01:35
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But episode 32 is pretty much all about her boys both being diagnosed a couple of years apart with type 1 diabetes. And then this episode goes into them traveling around Australia in a
Traveling with Type 1 Diabetes
00:01:47
Speaker
caravan. It's a very inspiring episode and I really hope that you enjoy and Thank you once again for being here.
00:01:56
Speaker
So tell us about, well, currently you're in Perth, but you're from, you live in New South Wales. So you guys have it hasn't stopped limited you at all so I want you to share your story with the listeners around what made you kind of go I i think I'd be too like you know it's almost like you kind of got to rip the band-aid off and go we just have to continue traveling like it's just sort of yeah yeah don't you worry we felt like we were cursed um But Doug and I, my husband, have always been keen on Australian travel and did a few trips pre-children and have always had on our bucket list that we would take our family around Australia. um So we...
00:02:44
Speaker
we did it and are doing it. So when did you start it? So Dan was diagnosed, sorry, remind me, when did you say Dan was diagnosed? Yeah, so he was diagnosed 18 months ago. So he'd been ah diagnosed over a year, or it' sorry, exactly a year. So we left New South Wales on our trip of 12 months around Australia, the great Aussie lap.
00:03:06
Speaker
ah So we left on Anzac Day 2025 and And are currently six months in, so we've done the north of Australia. with We went up through Queensland, up into Cape York, around the Gulf of Carpentaria, up into the Northern Territory, into Darwin,
00:03:32
Speaker
Then down and west from Catherine into w a we did the Kimberley across the Gibb River Road, um all of northern WA, and we've now made our way Perth.
00:03:49
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So very remote. Very remote. We have an off-road van, four-wheel drive, and we have been as remote as they come.
00:04:01
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We've, yeah, been a day's drive from anywhere. and um My first thought is how much storage do you have for your tightening stuff? Because you're living on in a van. i could just I was just thinking, oh, wow, for two kids as well. um And how did you go? Tell us about, yeah, like what's what's the logistics of that? Yes, so the the pre-prep was important and I say this because...
00:04:34
Speaker
because I had to organise with Medtronic spare loan pump. so we have with us a spare loan pump and a spare transmitter which attaches to their CGM. so that was organised prior to leaving. Also copious amounts of all of their um infusion sites and CGMs and stuff Yeah, all those supplies. Did you have a set target of like we want to have six months' worth of supplies or
00:05:09
Speaker
Yeah, well, i knew I knew that for the first little while we'd be right until we sort of got to Cairns. I knew we'd be right. We'd be going through towns fairly regularly. But once we got to Cairns, I knew we'd be going up into Cape York.
Managing Health Challenges on the Road
00:05:22
Speaker
So I phoned ahead upon reaching Cairns and ordered more through NDSS to a chemist in Cairns, collected those in Cairns, resupplied, re-stockpiled. you could order bulk. from like at certain chemists?
00:05:42
Speaker
Yeah, any care any chemist really. If you just ring up and place an NDSS order, they can order it in and have it ready for you upon reaching that town. ah So when when you've got the two kids, you can order double.
00:05:58
Speaker
Yeah, but you're still using double, so it's not like we're still piling. You are still using double, yes, yeah. But, yeah, big, big stash. And then off we went into Cape York, really remote. No chemists really up there that you can just pop into.
00:06:12
Speaker
And then again around the Gulf, we we did the Savannah Way around the Gulf of Carpentaria, which a lot of people will tell you is one of the roughest roads in Australia.
00:06:24
Speaker
I would probably agree. um And then once we were into Catherine and Darwin, I resupplied again. another big stash, and made sure we were triply, quadruply prepared before we did the Gib River Road, which is between Kununurra in WA in the east.
00:06:47
Speaker
and Broome in the, well, Derby and Broome in the west, in the top of the Kimberley. So we were 26 days off grid doing the Gib River Road. So it can be done. we You can go as remote as it gets and, you know, we're we're living proof of that um with organisation.
00:07:10
Speaker
So, yeah it was not just the pump supplies. It was all the just-in-case medications too, the creams, all the ointments, all the, you know, I felt like i had a mini chemist. Well, I still do.
00:07:22
Speaker
Were you concerned ah around, i mean, not just with type 1, but were you concerned around in hospitals or like that to be close by? or did that Has that ever crossed your mind?
00:07:34
Speaker
It has crossed my mind, but we've lived regionally and remotely before. We used to live in Western New South Wales and I'm i very aware of how the ah RFDS, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, operates ah and services those really remote areas. Do you have to have extra insurances or what do you...? No, well...
00:07:57
Speaker
In terms of health insurance, no but we did get insurance in that we're not in our home, yeah unrelated to health. But we did have to access um a medical clinic and this has been one downside of travelling in the tropics with type 1. The boys developed boils and before leaving home I'd only ever heard of boils. I didn't know what boil was. um It is an infection under the skin that develops into a volcano of pus, which is the most revolting and tender, tender, tender sore. And these enormous big, well, they're not pimples, but they so look like big pimple. Yeah, they're sort of like that, aren't they? it's like a Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:53
Speaker
And they have this core down in them and these things have to come to a head and erupt before they can settle down. But... um Welcome to the tropics, we were told by by the doctors. um They're quite common in in the tropics, we're told. And unfortunately, with immunocompromised children with type 1, they are more susceptible to them.
00:09:24
Speaker
So we had two boys with boils on their backsides sitting in the car on some of the roughest roads in Australia, bouncing along on these very, very uncomfortable roads.
00:09:42
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boils and we reached Kolumbaroo, which if you ever Google where it is, it's so remote. And we're so grateful for the Indigenous community and a healthcare clinic with the most wonderfully trained nurses and doctors and they helped us and gave us antibiotics and every conceivable cream and ointment and dressing that we could possibly need to get us back to civilisation and the boys more comfortable.
00:10:18
Speaker
But that has been a very unforeseen part of our travels. In my wildest dreams of preparing for this trip, I would never have envisaged and sadly has taken some of the shine off our adventures because they're recurring. They have plagued us, unfortunately.
00:10:46
Speaker
Don't ignore the four. The four early warning signs of type 1 diabetes. Excessive thirst, frequent urination, unexplained weight loss and extreme fatigue.
00:10:56
Speaker
If you or someone you know is experiencing these symptoms, don't wait. Get checked by a healthcare professional. Early detection and treatment are key to managing type 1 diabetes effectively.
00:11:09
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Because, yeah, I would be thinking you'd be more worried about like the gastro or, you know, things like that that then, you know, like with the keeping the fluids and stuff, but it's it's also then infections that just don't heal as well and they need antibiotics, you know, particularly if you're type 1. Yes. Yeah. So I had i had all the gastro meds with me. I, you know, had all the creams and all the ointments, but I i didn't have...
00:11:38
Speaker
preparation for boils. How would you stop them?
Logistics and Resilience
00:11:41
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ah So we have learnt that um antibacterial wash, so soaps, are wonderful in providing a layer of prevention on the skin itself.
00:11:58
Speaker
Laundering in you can get an antibacterial um that you can add to your laundry wash. But that in itself has been tricky, laundering. We do have a mini washing machine in our caravan, but you know access to water in some of these remote areas and Washing machines in caravan parks often only have cold water.
00:12:20
Speaker
You know, being able to wash sheets as regularly as what you would at at home, these have been trickier for us on the road. But it hasn't stopped us. No. We've kept on moving.
00:12:33
Speaker
And, yeah yeah, we're halfway. so Halfway. And so you'll be continuing. So you're in Perth now and you will then continue come down will you like yes we'll do the southern southern corner of WA and then continue across the great Australian bite um at some point we'll have to get up into the center yeah I'm interested to see up you up in the center because yeah I I'd love to take Harvey there I've done a trek with my oldest boy in the West McDonald Rangers there
00:13:06
Speaker
part of the Lara Pinter, but I'm probably a little bit more confident now, but I'd be like, oh, yeah, the the logistics of taking Harvey have been a little bit like. Yes. um part Part of this journey has been to prove to the boys that they can do anything and if they wish to travel, then they can travel.
00:13:29
Speaker
We just need to be organised and we think it's also showing people like yourself that it's achievable just with plenty of prep.
00:13:43
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. i love that, Liz. Like I think that when, you know, just recalling for my own experience, I remember thinking, you know, like how am I ever going to let Harvey go to, you know, go back to school, like be out of my sight. And then, you know, like I think as, you know, you you move along sort of living the life with, you know, either with type 1 or as, you know, as a carer, you kind of think, okay, well, you know, what's the next thing? Like, you know, then you out do a holiday and, you know, within 12 months of Harvey being diagnosed, we'd sort of done, you know, Bali and then, which which I was actually like probably a whole lot of, was just an anxious bubble when I was in Bali. And, but then then did Italy and, you know, we were in some very remote areas and I did not even,
00:14:35
Speaker
didn't even think about it, which I probably should have, but um didn't even think about access to, you know, sort of emergency services and things like that. My sisters did, but not me. yeah um But I don't encourage people to do that. But, it you know, it is that, you know, you do think that it turns your world upside down and you think how are we ever going to be able to do so normal things again?
00:15:00
Speaker
But, you know, I think day by day people are just proving that, it's It's so doable. You know, it life isn't over just because you have this diagnosis. You know, like you've just said, the tech has just changed so much in three years and it's just getting more and more advanced and I guess we're we're more and more connected within with each other and stuff where we can learn from, you know, from each other about how how are you doing this and being able to talk to others in our community and everybody's so willing to share, which is which is what it's all about really.
00:15:33
Speaker
And that's the other point that I will make is telecommunications have come so far too. We now have access to what's called Starlink. We have that on board with our car everywhere we go. So we have connectivity and internet access and we can call and make a phone call wherever we are. So I guess, um you know, what what once people used to get a satellite satellite phone for, um we we now have internet and data and phone calls at our fingertips. It's no different to being anywhere else. And you're in the absolute lack of walk.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yeah, so that's been reassurance to have access for emergency and So, liz i can also imagine in terms of just your supplies of the medical supplies side of things, the lots of the glucose and the sugar supplies would need to be around. This is how i like to wrap up every kind of episode is what's the boys' go-to hypotreatments?
00:16:35
Speaker
ah Yes, well, it's a little bit different um to if we were home. i mean at at home we usually have jelly beans and we do jelly.
00:16:46
Speaker
still do jelly beans we have jelly beans in the van and the kids can just grab those as required but with school ah they usually usually have juice and juice is heavy and it's cumbersome and it can also leak in the van i will say from experience um ah ah juice poppers. So we don't do poppers near as much as what we do at home on the road, but we have found the little packets of Skittles amazing when we're out and about. um So they have a little, we have a little shoulder bag, we call it our diabetes bag, and that just goes everywhere with us on hikes and into our remote
00:17:30
Speaker
walks We have little, almost like little bum bags, little bags that are strapped onto the kids' pushbikes. Oh, that's a good idea. They're from Kmart if you're interested. It's a little bike bag and they they attach to their bikes. There's lollies in them. They're camelbacks that they walk with on hikes.
00:17:52
Speaker
They have s Skittles in them.
Empowerment and Community
00:17:54
Speaker
They're in the car. But, yeah, and most mostly jelly beans and Skittles on the road, juice at home and school. ah Liz, I really ah really do appreciate your time. um i know that yourre you you've sort of tapped out early morning in Perth to meet with me and to share your story. There's so much stuff, you know, that we've just shared that will be so helpful to to other type 1 diabetics but also to type 1 carers as well. um I think that, you know, particularly for you just showing your children that, yes, they might have this diagnosis, yes, it's it's it's tough um but it just doesn't stop you
00:18:38
Speaker
from doing amazing things like going around and seeing Australia and going into remote areas and like what what an absolute experience for those children that you're providing anyway, but to also say like, you know, you can, next is the world, I guess, isn't it? I hope so. i hope it's demonstrated to to them that type 1 is not who they are or what they are. It is something that they carry with them, um but it's not holding them back. And if we can go around Australia with two little boys with type 1, then anyone else can do it too with type 1.
00:19:19
Speaker
preparation and planning. Amazing. You're a legend. um Thank you again for your time. Thank you. Thanks everybody for listening. I hope that you've enjoyed this episode. i know that I have. um I enjoy them all. But we look forward to
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:19:34
Speaker
bringing you another episode in the next fortnight. um But thank you so much listening to the Type One Club.
00:19:42
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to the Type 1 Club podcast. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and gained some valuable insights. If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on all the platforms so you never miss an episode.
00:19:56
Speaker
We also appreciate it if you could leave us a rating and review. It really helps us to reach more listeners just like yourselves. For more updates, behind-the-scenes content and to join the conversation further, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, the Type 1 Foundation, or visit our website, type1foundation.com.au.
00:20:17
Speaker
Thanks again for listening and we will see you next time on the Type 1 Club.