WINNING THE BATTLE AGAINST CANCER WITH MY MINIMED™ 640G PUMP AT MY SIDE

Valentina was the first person in Mauritius to start on the MiniMed™ 640G System. Everything was going great and then she was hit with the news of her cancer diagnosis. She has written a letter to the diabetes community telling us how she used the pump to navigate through this difficult experience.

Dear friends and fellow Type 1 Warriors

I would like to tell you about the experience I had last year.  

As you know, I have been a type 1 diabetic for these last 24 years, always struggling with hypos and hypers.

A few years ago, I was started on the Minimed™ 640G System. This new therapy changed my life. The MiniMed™ 640G pump is integrated with a continuous glucose sensor, where the pump shuts off insulin delivery 30 minutes before my glucose is predicted to reach my low limit, essentially designed to help prevent hypos – this is called SmartGuard™ technology. 

For the first time in years, I had full night sleep and very few hypos, which made my life easier and more enjoyable.  My quality of life was optimised and I saw life differently.

I was like everybody else... living my life to the fullest, after almost 20 years of struggling with injections.

And then, in September last year, I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.

A true cut biopsy was conducted, which confirmed what was suspected.  

I started the breast cancer protocol…in shock!

I could not think straight. There were so many things going through my head at the time.

Then came 2 surgeries to remove the tumour.  

I was terrified by the operations and I don’t know why, but I started worrying about going hypo and not being able to wake up. It was exactly at this moment that I looked at my pump and felt indescribable relief…My fear of hypoglycaemia during the surgeries was completely gone.

I had my SmartGuard™ by my side.

Both surgeries went very well and surprisingly my sugar level was stable. I would have thought that with the stress, medication and change of daily activities would cause uncontrolled sugar, but no.

I felt very confident to carry on with my treatment knowing that I could totally rely on my MiniMed™ 640G system.  I am sure it would have been very hard for me if that was not the case.

After the surgeries, by end of November, I travelled to India for a full month of radiotherapy. My treatment required a more sophisticated apparatus not available here in Mauritius. During the flight, I started to have panic attacks, but not one minute did I worry about my sugar. The treatment in India went very well.

I must say, that the peace of mind brought by the pump has been incredibly valuable.  I felt I could totally trust the pump to help me through this hard time. I had all my energy to concentrate on the fight with the cancer.  

My family was also relieved and really appreciated the effectiveness and safety of sensor-driven pump therapy.

Now I am back in Mauritius and have resumed work at Health Focus Ltd, since the beginning of the year.  

Treatment for the cancer still goes on.

And GOOD NEWS! I now have the MiniMed™ 670G Pump System (the world’s first self-adjusting pump), which makes my diabetes control even better and easier.

Valentina Ramos, Mauritius