By Luke Voogt
Belmont mum Ange Liston-McCaughly is spearheading national efforts to support people with diabetes, with some recent help from the family of Lou Richards.
The late football legend’s family “catapulted“ her Type 1 Foundation into the “national spotlight”, Ange says, by urging people to donate instead of sending flowers.
“We’ve had some really big donations come in – it’s been massive to be on TV.”
Geelong football icon Sam Newman raised $10,000 when he nailed a bullseye in a Footy Show tribute to Lou’s Handball.
“(The Richards family) were all going crazy,” Ange says.
Ange’s daughter Lila, 13, has type one diabetes and sees the same paediatrician as Richards’ great-grandson Jack.
Ange went to the funeral of the Collingwood legend, where she heard of his generosity.
“He was a huge charity man,” she says.
Cats supporters Ange and Lila collected money at the MCG when Collingwood faced Hawthorn earlier this year.
“My husband barracks for Hawthorn, so it’s kind of funny,” she says.
In May donors raised more than $20,000 for the Type 1 Foundation.
In December 2013, Lila fell severely ill on a family holiday in Queensland.
She had been sick a few months before but doctors did not diagnose her condition until she ended up in a Gold Coast Hospital.
“She … was an hour (away from) falling into a coma,” Ange says.
“It was a very scary time. When Lila was diagnosed, there was no support.”
So in June 2015, the mother-of-four started the Type 1 Foundation to ensure “no-one would end up in our position”.
In 2016 she ran in 10 marathons across Australia to get her foundation off the ground.
“There’s a lot of money being put into research,” says says. “But there are a lot of people living with type one diabetes who need support.”
Lila has an expensive insulin pump connected to her stomach, counts carbs in everything she eats and checks her blood sugar daily.
Her family worries about long-term complications like blindness, kidney disease and heart failure, Ange says.
“Type one diabetes is very much a family disease.”
Ange planned to spend a large portion of recent donations on an online module to educate teachers on diabetes.
“We want to make that a national thing, so every teacher knows how to treat a child with diabetes.”
