The InPuT team goes airborne!

It's no small secret that my favourite charity in this country is InPuT.  Led by patients, for patients, they are exclusively the UK's only charity increasing access to medical technology.  The team, made up of just two paid members of staff, Lesley Jordan and Melissa Holloway, aim to increase people's awareness of their rights to medical technology, and to advise them and guide them through how to obtain it, often giving them the key language and legislative knowledge which will allow people to speak to healthcare providers in a way they understand and will respond to. They also provide a key and impactive presence in parliamentary groups on diabetes and medical technology.

In 2012 I helped out at the series of roadshows the team put together, and saw first hand the powerful work they do, when a hope-lacking and frightened lady with type 1 explained that she no longer drove her car because she was so afraid of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugars).  A little InPuT advice and a letter to her team later, and she was placed on pump. Her heartfelt thank you letter said it all: that the UK needs InPuT to continue the work they do.

I've also seen how they work to keep their costs down and put the funds exactly where they should go.  Volunteers are encouraged to car share or take pubic transport to any events, and if Lesley can find a better deal for something the charity needs, she will find it.  In a world where charities come under fire for gratuitous expenses and disproportionate 'necessities', it is inspiring to see how dedicated InPuT are to what actually matters.  It is refreshing to see, and a privilege be part of.

This year InPuT need to raise funds in order to keep their dedicated service reaching as many as they do, so both Melissa and Lesley decided that there was only one thing for it: show their dedication to the work they do by jumping out of a plane!

Like this only muuuuuuuch higher up...

This coming Friday, 5th September, the InPut team (minus me, because I'm an enormous pansy-shaped flower) will be sky-diving their way to the ground in order to raise the vital funds they need, and they need YOUR help!

Check out their fund-raising pages here and here, and donate even £5 to help people access medical technology. 

Tell me, how much does your insulin pump or continuous glucose monitor mean to you?  Now imagine if your donation of just £5 could help someone else struggling to get one?

I've donated, can you help out too?