The Sunday News
Walter Mswazie in Masvingo
WHEN Mr Leonard Moyo (65) from Bulawayo was diagnosed with diabetes at the tender age of 14, he thought death was imminent and doubted that he would wage a successful fight against the condition. However, for 51 years Mr Moyo of Matsheumhlope suburb has managed to live with the condition and is going strong, courtesy of his positive attitude to life and at 65 years now, one can mistake him for a 40-year-old man.
A father of three, two boys and one girl, all adults, Mr Moyo says his family is supportive and he is leading a normal life despite financial strain brought by the cost of medication and the fact that his wife Mrs Violet Moyo has also been battling the same disease for 30 years.
“I have had Type 1 diabetes since I was 14. Initially, I was confused and very scared as I did not know what was going to happen. I learnt that my pancreas didn’t make enough insulin. I became insulin dependent and need it about three times a day. At first I lived with no medication at all as I was ignorant of the effects and I think it was mild. I could have been fighting the disease unknowingly because I was always doing sports. I played soccer plus I have been a weight lifter up to now,” said Mr Moyo.
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease that destroys cells in the pancreas that make insulin. As a result the body will be unable to make insulin. It occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the beta cells of the pancreas. These are the cells that create insulin and people with Type 1 diabetes cannot make enough insulin to control their blood sugar. The most common age which is at high risk of type 1 diabetes is between 11 and 14 years. Cold weather may also increase risk for type 1 diabetes.
He said when he started medication, about 20 years after diagnosis, pricking his fingers to check blood sugar was painful but he got used to it. He said he checked his blood sugar to calculate the carbohydrates he would eat as the insulin dose was needed to metabolise what he eats.
“My family is my greatest support. My wife, Violet who has also lived with the same condition for the past 30 years always reminds me to check my sugar levels and I do it three times a day. Although I live with diabetes, it doesn’t stop me from doing what I love,” said Mr Moyo.
Mr Moyo said the condition needs a lot of discipline on food with strong adherence to the recommended diet and medication.
He said it is both painful and expensive to manage diabetes although it now appears as a normal way of life to him given the years he had been in the situation. Mr Moyo said one had to check his sugar levels as well as his blood pressure thrice or more a day since diabetics were susceptible to such diseases.
“After jogging and doing exercises every morning I check my sugar level. I do this every day, sometimes three times a day if I am on attack. This is done routinely and it won’t be a stroll in the park because of the pain I go through as I also have to inject myself.”
He said the treatment regime was also expensive as the 50 strips of glucomtre cost not less than $27 per month and as a pensioner it was always difficult for him and his wife to meet their medical needs. He said the situation was made worse by the fact that the kind of food that they should consume was not readily available given the successive droughts in the country.
Mr Moyo who is also a Zimbabwe Diabetes Association (ZDA) executive member said the greatest challenge was in the rural areas where people have little knowledge about the disease and how it can be managed.
He said given the availability of resources his organisation would want to carry out outreach programmes in rural areas and farming areas educating people about diabetes before the disease becomes a pandemic taking the lives of many because of ignorance.
“I have lived this far together with my wife not because we are wise but by the grace of God and the knowledge I get from health personnel every time. I have lived more than half a century with the disease but I don’t know everything, I have to learn also and I should learn every day.
“For example, some foods are said to be having side effects and yet we have been feeding on them all along so this is the new information that help us live long because once some foods are discovered not to be unhealthy, we have to stay away from them,” he added.
He said together with his wife they favour small grain meals like rapoko, millet and sorghum which they normally buy from the rural areas but are not always available.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of World Diabetes Day commemorations held at Tshovani Stadium in Chiredzi recently Zimbabwe Diabetes Association President Dr John Mangwiro advised people against eating large amounts of food at night saying there was a risk of becoming obese and thus giving room to health complications, chief among them diabetes.
He also hailed Mr Moyo for leading in the fight against diabetes and for being a role model to the nation.
He said when a lot of food was eaten just before people go to bed; digestion was compromised because it would not be used by the body and thus causies accumulation of fats. Too much fat, he said, was a fertile ground for diabetes and high blood pressure.
“I advise people not to eat abnormal amounts of food just before retiring to bed. If you eat too much the digestive system will be slow and thus affect your pancreas as well. If the pancreas has a problem you tend to suffer from stroke on a part of the body that includes mouth, hands or legs. People living with diabetes should embrace good eating habits like Mr Moyo who has lived for half a decade with diabetes and is still strong. He is disciplined on his diet and exercises regularly,” said Dr Mangwiro.
He said diabetes could cause blindness, teeth decay, gum bleeding, heart failure and swollen abdomen as well as complications in the bladder causing problems in excreting urine. He said if a person is living with that condition, he or she would need dialysis, which is expensive.
He called on the media to help in raising awareness as many undiagnosed and diagnosed people have little knowledge on how the diseases could be managed.
The ZDA president emphasised on the need to reduce the cost of drugs by pharmacies as most treatment needed for diabetics was beyond the reach of many.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 415 million people are battling diabetes with 1,5 million of that number found in Zimbabwe. The vulnerable age group is between 20 and 79 years and more than six percent per every 1 000 people per year worldwide are likely to die of diabetes.
