'Artificial pancreas helps me live without limits'

A woman with type 1 diabetes has said an artificial pancreas that helps her manage her condition is "brilliant".

Chloe Hammond, 25, from Northampton, was diagnosed with diabetes as a toddler and said the technology monitored her blood sugar levels automatically, delivering insulin when needed.

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the immune system attacking cells in the pancreas that control blood sugar levels and affects about 400,000 people in the UK.

Hammond, who enjoys an active lifestyle and plays ice hockey for Milton Keynes Bolts, said the technology meant she could live "without limitations".

She has had an insulin pump since the age of 10, but benefited from an artificial pancreas when the technology was adopted by the NHS two years ago.

"I have a sensor on my arm; the pump around my waist on a belt," Hammond explained.

"It has a tube that is on a cannula on my stomach. The sensor can track my blood sugar and the pump can relay that information and give a little bit of insulin or stop it.

"The technology has come a long way from constantly carrying around needles. I just wear the device on me – it's brilliant."

Speaking to BBC Radio Northampton, Hammond said she enjoyed playing ice hockey and used it as a way to show what people with the condition were capable of.

"If something happens on the ice, people are aware of what it could be. Again, my teammates are thoroughly supportive – they're always checking on me," she said.

"Everyone is supportive of me being in a rough sport with the diabetes."

Hammond added: "It [diabetes] is always on your mind; you're never going to let it slip. It's permanently there for the rest of your life, but you learn to adapt with it.

"Don't let it stop you from doing anything."

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