The Buchanan family began 2024 with a bang! Alexandra and Luke had recently married and they were also celebrating Luke being offered the role of Principal of St Columba’s Memorial School in regional SA. So, with their bubbly and energetic 2-year-old Fletcher, they'd enthusiastically packed up their city lives and moved to the small, rural community of Yorketown. Famous for its beautiful beaches and close-knit country community, Yorketown and the St Columba's school community had immediately welcomed the Buchanans with open arms. Luke had even joined the local footy club. Everything was going exactly to plan. Except for one thing. Fletcher just wasn't his 'usual self'. In #108 of the Flying Doctor podcast, we hear how this usually bright and enthusiastic toddler was becoming lethargic (and even falling asleep) at strange times of the day. He was drinking incessantly, constantly complaining of being thirsty and he was soaking through his nappies at an alarming rate.
But it was during a social night out with friends that the alarm bells started ringing loudly with Alex, when Fletcher 'just crashed' with fatigue, shortly after consuming a glass of apple juice. After anxiously 'Dr googling' his symptoms overnight, Fletcher's worried Mum decided to book into a nearby GP to discuss the possibility of diabetes. But instead of being offered the simple, finger prick blood test she'd been hoping for, the GP referred Fletcher for a fasting glucose test and concluded the appointment. Still new to the area and unsure how to navigate rural health care in a small town or what to do next, Alex reached out to a local nurse for advice. Less than an hour later, the local Yorketown Hospital was calling the RFDS for an emergency retrieval, after Fletcher's finger prick test revealed his blood sugar levels were over three times their 'normal' levels. A mother's instincts - with a bit of help from Dr Google - had been right. Fletcher was seriously ill and now facing a lifelong diagnosis of Type One Diabetes.
After a weeklong stay in Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital and plenty of daily instruction from the amazing staff and diabetes educators, Fletcher and his parents were ready to return home to Yorketown - and to their local community's incredible care. From meals left on their doorstep to school fundraisers and thoughtful gifts, the Buchanan family's scary ordeal has been buffered by the incredible generosity and thoughtfulness of their new neighbours, friends and their wider school network. But Alex and Luke are still the first to admit that the T1 Diabetes road, particularly with a toddler, has been a difficult and often bumpy journey. Alex and Fletcher are also now proud ambassadors for JDRF, the Juvenile Research Diabetes Foundation. With research and knowledge around T1 Diabetes increasing all the time, the insulin pump that Fletcher now wears to help regulate his daily sugar levels is just one example of the exciting progress being made. And while this brave and resilient 2-year-old will probably never remember a time when T1 Diabetes wasn't part of his world, Fletcher also has plenty of photos and memories of 'that exciting day' - when he and his Mum got to fly with the RFDS.
