Playtime with diabetes
June 2, 2014
Can a doll be diabetic? No. But, if you’re like 11-year-old Anja Busse of Antigo, Wisconsin, that doesn’t matter - all you need is imagination.
Or maybe a doll that comes with all the appropriately doll-sized gear and supplies to help pretend that she does?
Six months after being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Anja is on a mission to convince American Girl, the popular doll-maker, to create a special doll that would come with items like a glucose meter and insulin pump.
“It would really be a comfort to other girls who are diagnosed with diabetes,” Anja tells The Antigo Daily Journal. To that end, Anja started an online petition that has gathered over 2,500 signatures in only a few weeks.
Beyond just the doll, Anja and her family have become crusaders in the fight against diabetes. They’ve started a nonprofit that puts together care packages for newly-diagnosed children, and are organizing a fundraising team for the JDRF’s annual Walk to Cure Diabetes in October.
All this started when Anja was diagnosed with diabetes and discovered that American Girl dolls come with all kinds of other features, such as braces, glasses, even service dogs or, well, allergies.
If they can accessorize their dolls to that level, Anja figures, why not a diabetic doll?
While American Girl hasn’t committed to producing diabetic accessories for their dolls, we hope they do. At MPT, we advocate anything that will help patients manage their condition better - and really, is there a better way to mix business with pleasure than educational toys?