124
VOLUME 9 NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2012
SA JOURNAL OF DIABETES & VASCULAR DISEASE
S Afr J Diabetes Vasc Dis
2012;
9
: 124.
Diabetes Personality
A young diabetic harnesses social
media to advise and support
others with the condition
E
ighteen-year-old Claire Potgieter is a poster
girl for a positive attitude. She lives with di-
abetes and also has cerebral palsy, but she
chooses to look on the bright side and use her expe-
riences to support and guide other young diabetics.
To this end, she created a Facebook page earlier this
year called Sweet Enough Diabetics, through which
she dispenses advice and encouragement.
She was initially diagnosed with diabetes a while
after undergoing an operation to lengthen her ham-
strings. Her doctor thought that the impact of the op-
eration might have been responsible for ‘bringing the
diabetes to the surface’.
‘
Right from the start, I saw it as an adventure and
was not too fazed by the need for constant testing
of my blood glucose levels and injections of insulin’,
she recalls. ‘The only thing I wanted was not to have
to spend time in hospital again.’ At the time, Claire
and her family lived in Springs.
A few years later they moved to Cape Town, an
experience Claire found traumatic. Unhappy and
distressed, she admits she briefly ‘lost the plot’ and
stopped caring about her glucose
levels. ‘But it was maybe only for a
week or two. I quickly realised that
it just wasn’t worth it not to take
care of myself. Others, however,
remain in this space for much
longer periods and it’s my hope
that I can help some of them to
understand that it’s not worth eat-
ing badly and making the condi-
tion worse.’
Today, Claire describes her condition as more or
less stable. ‘I’m on insulin and my glucose levels
are more or less okay. I’m not where I hope to be
just yet, but I will get there’, she says.
Since 2006, Claire has been in the care of endo-
crinologist Dr Landi Lombard. In 2010 she joined the
Kuils River branch of the Centre for Diabetes and
Endocrinology, which is headed up by Dr Lombard’s
wife, Claudia. ‘Sweet Enough Diabetics was actually
Claudia’s idea and she encouraged me to start it.
I had always wanted to reach out and help, and to
share my experiences with others in the same boat.
This seemed like a great way to do it’, says Claire.
The forum is still in its infancy, but is slowly
growing. ‘If someone posts that they’re having a
bad day, I’ll respond with words of encouragement,
reassuring them that even if it seems dark at the
moment, the sun will come out again and life can
be good. It’s a wonderful feeling when I get an an-
swer back telling me that my words made the writer
feel better and reassured him that he is not alone.’
Claire likes the fact that she’s also made some new
friends through Sweet Enough Diabetics.
Claire remains adamant that having diabetes is ‘re-
ally not that bad’. ‘I count it as a blessing. There are
some wonderful people like Claudia and Landi who
I might never have met otherwise. They’ve enriched
my life’, she concludes. She also credits her parents,
brother, sisters and friends, as well as her faith in God,
with having played a significant part in supporting her
through the changes diabetes has brought in her life.
Peter Wagenaar
