MIHLALI Quntana has been living with type 1 diabetes for the past six years. Now an 11-year-old, she has become used to injecting herself with insulin four times a day.

Mihlali is one of six million South Africans who are living with this incurable disease.

People suffering from type 1 diabetes – also known as juvenile diabetes – make up 10% of all diabetics in the country.

Mihlali and many of her peers were given hope by a former Mr Universe, Doug Burns, who was in the country to give talks on living with the disease. A diabetic himself, Burns attended the Diabetes SA conference in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

“I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was only seven and now I teach people all around the world about the danger of this disease. People are not aware that it kills more people than HIV/Aids every day,” Burns said.

“When I was diagnosed as a kid I was ostracised. I was initially misdiagnosed – they claimed I had flu. I was in hospital for four or five days. My mother was crying and ignorant about diabetes.

“In 1987, when I won my first bodybuilding competition, I started going to high schools to give talks on the dangers of diabetes.”

A Grade 6 pupil at Greenwood Primary School, Mihlali said: “I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was five. I had to adjust and get used to injecting myself every day.”

Her mother, Leah Quntana, said: “Diabetes changed her life because she feels isolated from other kids. She also cannot eat the junk foods that other children her age eat.”

Quntana said she had had to change the family’s diet.

“She has six meals a day. She has to eat healthy browns, calcium and carbohydrates every day and these have to be measured.

“When Mihlali has a high sugar level she gets moody and feels sleepy, and when she has a low sugar level she shivers and is not herself.”

Quntana said her daughter had been misdiagnosed when she first showed signs of diabetes six years ago. “My father passed away five years ago because of diabetes and in the same year my daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

“This made me angry with God. I asked myself why this was happening to my child, but now I know that she can handle it and I tell her that God does not give you anything you can not handle.”

Michaela Kannemeyer, also 11, was diagnosed five years ago.

The Grade 5 pupil at Triomf Primary said: “When I go to my ballroom dancing classes, most children do not want to partner with me because they think there is something wrong with me and this makes me feel bad.” Michaela’s mother, Debbie Kannemeyer, said diabetes had changed her daughter’s life.

“She has five injections a day – two in the morning, one at lunchtime, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. This is so painful for her. She used to inject herself but the doctor found that she was not injecting properly because of the pain. Now I do it and it is very painful for her.”

Kannemeyer said she had lost her job and it had been increasingly difficult to afford insulin, which cost up to R2500 a month. “I am scared to take Michaela back to Provincial Hospital because there is not enough treatment given.”

South African actor and musician Tshepo Mosese (commonly known as Howza), who has been living with diabetes for five years, was also at the conference in the Bay.

“This disease totally changed my lifestyle. I was a person who loved to go out – drinking and fast food were things I did on a regular basis. South Africa is still ignorant about diabetes and I want to change the perception that diabetes is only common among the older generation.”

Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals spokesman Nic Maasdorp said insulin injection was the only way that diabetes could be managed.

“This is not a curable disease. People live with it for their entire lives. They have to eat a healthy, balanced diet, exercise and have insulin injections regularly. Unfortunately for children, this means giving up junk food.”