Surf, Sun & Tubeless Fun - Podder Story | Omnipod® Australia

3 May, 2023

Cruz was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 5 years old and has been living with T1D for 9 years now. At 14 years old, he is fortunate to have never experienced multiple daily injections as he was started on insulin pump therapy in hospital at diagnosis

Cruz is from a family of 7 and is the second eldest child of 5. We are an extremely busy, active, ocean loving family! We live for Summer and the ocean is our second home.

Cruz has always done well wearing an insulin pump. However, previously having the pump bouncing around in his pocket, or falling out and pulling on the tube has annoyed him over the years but the one thing that has always let us down is time spent in the water (or playing sport) without the pump on. Cruz participates in Surf Life Saving at a very high competitive level so he swim trains, board trains, ironman trains often up to 10 sessions a week. He also loves to surf and couldn’t wear his tubed pump in the water. This meant he was spending hours each day with his pump off of his body. We were forever trying to bring his levels back down again after hours of no basal insulin.

As soon as we heard about the Omnipod DASH® System we spoke to our Paediatrician who also thought it would be a great option for Cruz. It made sense to us that Cruz could wear it all day everyday, in the surf, in the pool and in the shower. Its small, waterproof*, unobtrusive, tubeless and simple to apply. Cruz can do it all himself. Its hidden under his clothing and putting his carbs in is very simple on the touchscreen of the PDM. No one would even really know that he was wearing an Insulin Pump.

In July 2022 we took off on a trip around the world chasing an endless Summer. We spent a month in Bali and the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia and time in the Philippines surfing all day everyday, before heading to Europe for more of the same. The Omnipod DASH® System has given us so much freedom. It was great to travel with as there weren’t lots of different bits and pieces, its all conveniently packaged as one complete unit (except for the Insulin which I carried separately). If we were at a surf break for a few hours we would just take his PDM out with us and if he popped back to the boat for something to eat or drink it was simple to enter the carbs through the Bluetooth PDM and off he went again.

Cruz typically wears his Omnipod DASH® Pods for 3 days which we find is a perfect amount of time before we swap over to the alternate arm. So far, Cruz has been careful with pod removal, and he hasn’t experienced irritation. It is something that is very individualized, and people should speak to their HCP if they have questions or concerns about it.

If we could say anything to anyone currently on a different pump or injections looking for a great alternative, we would say definitely give the Omnipod DASH System a go. Wearing the tubeless, waterproof* and simple Omnipod DASH® System has changed Cruzs life for the better and given us so much flexibility and freedom. Anything that takes the brain work out of diabetes and makes management easier is amazing in our eyes! Give it a go, we aren’t looking back.

Always read the label and follow the directions for use.
*The Pod has a waterproof IP28 rating for up to 7.6 metres for 60 minutes. The PDM is not waterproof.