Type 1 father and daughter, Trevor and Chelle, have been a part of HypoActive since inception.  Both are always up for a challenge, and this year they agreed to form part of the Diabetes Tasmania journey to Sri Lanka, raising funds along the way for Sri Lankan Diabetes and Diabetes Tasmania programs.  They were very moved from their experiences, as Chelle details below.  Photos courtesy of Diabetes Tasmania.

Sri Lanka

By Chelle Connard

Well, we’re back from Sri Lanka and what can I say? It was an amazing experience. We faced many challenges along the way, some that we expected and others that just added to the adventure!
 
At the conclusion of day 1 of riding I fell down a flight of stairs and was believed to have broken my coccyx bone (yep, that’s the bum bone in-case you were wondering!). You might think that would put an end to riding a bike for 500 odd k’s but I quickly realised that despite what you might think the bike was actually significantly more comfortable than the bus so off I rode!
 
Dad, vision impaired from a workplace accident many years ago, learnt that we cater extremely well for the vision impaired in Australia as he delicately navigated his way around dimly lit corners in hotels and uneven and poorly defined steps right throughout Sri Lanka.
 
The sights that we saw were amazing, the mountains we climbed awe inspiring and the food…. My goodness the food! If you have any Sri Lankan friends do yourself a favour and ask them for their eggplant or pumpkin curry recipe!
 
Dad and I both set out to ride the greatest distance we could and we both succeeded in that. A small number of hypos and other medically related hiccups beyond our control meant that we had a few short stints on the bus but other than that we pushed ourselves further than either of us thought were capable.
 
Riding a bike was such a true way to see the real beauty (and not so beauty!) of a country. We saw things, spoke to people and heard stories that you just couldn’t possibly have seen on a tourist bus.
 
We met an amazing and inspiring group of people who challenged, encouraged and supported us in unimaginable ways. We couldn’t have asked for a greater bunch of people and we know that the friendships made will last a lifetime.
 
The visit to the diabetes clinic in Colombo was humbling and heartbreaking at the same time. It was here on our last day in this beautiful country that I realised just how fortunate we are in Australia and exactly why we had just slogged it out for the last 500k’s to raise money for these kids.
 
Sometimes we find ourselves in our own little worlds complaining about things that seem huge and in our world they are. But in Sri Lanka if you have diabetes you get no government support, you have a near zero chance of ever learning what an insulin pump is let alone have the privilege to get one. 25% of your family's income (if you are from a wealthy family) will go to treating your diabetes. You will be lucky if you are given a new needle once a month and the amount of insulin that you require. Your friends think your diabetes is contagious and it is extremely likely that your HbA1c will regularly be in excess of 30% if not 50%. I just didn’t know it was possible to be that high…
 
So was Sri Lanka a good experience? Did I learn something about myself? Has my perspective on life changed? Would I recommend it to my friends? Absolutely! If you ever get the chance to experience a challenge like this, do yourself a favour and don’t think twice.

Chelle in Sri Lanka

Trevor in Sri Lanka