EastEnders icon admits she ‘barely slept’ after fearing teenage son may die

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Former EastEnders actress Nina Wadia has opened up about her son’s health issues.

The Zainab star’s son Aidan, 17, lives with Type 1 diabetes which has led to Nina intensely worrying about his welfare.
Nina said: “Our lives changed dramatically straight after diagnosis. In the first couple of years I barely slept, worried that he might hypo during the night so severely that he could die.

“The level of worry is relentless and miserable. On an every day level, things we didn’t have to think twice about became so complicated.

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“To give you an example, just going on holiday there is so much medication to pack and then to explain to security at the airport why it might not be a good idea going through the body scanning machine because it could turn his equipment off. I remember when my son was first diagnosed the last thing he wanted was to be made to feel different and, because of the lack of knowledge about Type1, that’s exactly how he was made to feel the whole time.

“That’s why I wrote a little book for Key Stage 2 readers called ‘Bionic T1d’ . My son was nicknamed Bionic at school because of all the new Tech on him.”

Her son Aidan was diagnosed with Type 1 (Image: Nina Wadia)
More than 5million people in the UK are now living with diabetes – and yet new research from Dexcom found 76% of people with diabetes feel misunderstood.

During Diabetes Awareness Week recently, Dexcom ambassadors like Nina have been shedding a light on the condition with “I Wish You Knew” to help people understand what it’s really like. Dexcom’s “I Wish You Knew” campaign is one of the most important campaigns we’ve had so far when it comes to Type1 diabetes.

Nine revealed Aidan uses a device called a hybrid closed loop system also known as an artificial pancreas to manage his diabetes. She explained: “Aidan uses a combination of an Omnipod Dash system (inslulin pump) with the Dexcom G6 (continuous glucose monitoring system).

“This was a game-changer for us. It meant not injecting several times a day or pricking your finger anymore, both of which are very painful things to do. It was the first time that we managed to start to get his HBA1C number (that’s your average blood sugar level over a period of 3 months) to a good place.

“Having the Dexcom G6, means we know what Aidan’s glucose levels are at any given moment and that means I get to sleep at night again because we can set alarms to alert us if he is having either a hypo or going to be too hyper during the night. It’s been a God send.

“Dexcom CGM actually has the most connectivity offerings, meaning people with diabetes can connect their CGM to a range of insulin pumps, pens and even smart devices to manage their diabetes as is best for them. Dexcom is also the only CGM with pr