Marcus Bosano is 51 and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 30 on 10 September 2001. This was, as he describes it, ‘the day before the world changed’. The attack on the Twin Towers in New York City - ‘9/11’ happened the previous day. That’s quite a marker for such a deeply personal event.
Bosano lived in Bristol, where he got married in 1999. He had a son the same year, who was only one-and-ahalf years old when Bosano was diagnosed. He recalls, “Looking back, I did have some symptoms, but my lifestyle masked them. Although I lived in Bristol, I worked in Bath and I cycled there, which is 25 to 30 miles a day. In addition, I often did a run at lunchtime, as well as playing football a couple of times a week after work. I was very fit but had recurring bouts of thrush, and I was losing weight. I remember that I was eating like there was no tomorrow. I put the weight loss down to all my exercise, but I ended up losing nearly three stone in just a few months.”
The rest of that summer he remained extremely thirsty and was often up in the night going to the toilet and feeling tired all the time. He says, “One weekend we were due to go into town. I woke up and I felt bone dry – I just couldn’t drink enough to cut through the frantic thirst I had. We drove for 15 minutes, but by then I was incredibly thirsty again. When we got home later that day, I got on the computer, put in the symptoms, and it came up clearly as type 1 diabetes. I’d met people with type 1 diabetes but didn’t understand it much. I made an appointment with my local GP who asked the surgery’s nurse to take me for a quick blood test. My wife stayed in the room with the doctor while I went for the blood test. My test result was given to the GP while my wife was in the room, I was still in the waiting room, and she came out and told me. I accepted the diagnosis quickly – I decided to just get on with it.”

Teamwork
Initially, Bosano was given dietary advice such as, ‘don’t eat strawberries, they are very sweet.’ He says, “Now I know that’s not even true.” He managed his diabetes for almost 2 decades on multiple daily insulin injections. (MDI). When Bosano and his family decided to move to Cheltenham, he was referred to the local diabetes team. “The team was – and is – amazing. They really got to know me and advocated for me when I wanted to explore pump therapy. It was only on reflection that I see how important that was.”
“The team talked about pump therapy, but I was initially resistant. I couldn’t see how it would fit with my lifestyle. However, there was a ‘pump day’ held locally and I went to take a look. I found it very interesting and discovered the tubeless Omnipod® Insulin Management System. I still had lots of questions and objections, and my heart sank as they were all answered... In the end I decided to grasp the nettle. “I’d been on a couple of DAFNE* courses before going on the pump and learned to count carbs while I was on MDI.”

The impact of Pod Therapy 
Then began Bosano’s journey to start pump therapy, or ‘Pod Therapy’ in this case. “I went into a class with other Type 1s and did a short trial on saline. Then, on Pod Start day, the diabetes team set us up on our Omnipod® System and then we all went for lunch. In the hospital café we all counted our carbs, dialled in our BG reading and carbs into the PDM (personal diabetes manager) and pressed ‘start’ to give the bolus. I could literally hear it working. It was weird, and a little bit emotional. I realised then it was life changing. I had to compose myself. I’d been doing five injections a day for 15 years and realising I no longer needed to do that; the pump had an immediate psychological impact on me.
“I use the temp basal feature all the time. For example, if I’m doing exercise, I can adjust the basal rate for a while. Using the Omnipod® System helps makes those everyday moments easier. Even at night, if I have to give a little correction dose, I can do it simply with my PDM, without waking my partner, which she’s grateful for!
“During the pandemic, I upgraded from the original Omnipod® System to the Omnipod DASH® Insulin Management System. I did the training online and the self-start at home, which was easy and convenient. My Diabetes Specialist Nurse drove round with the new starter kit and left it on the doorstep, which I considered to be over and above the call of duty. It was great to have such good care and support.” Pod On
Another observation that Bosano makes about being on Insulet’s Omnipod®, beyond the support from the team and the company itself, is the sense of bonding he gets with other ‘Podders®’. “I met Khalid Keshta, another Omnipod® user, when we were both doing a photoshoot for the current series of Omnipod® adverts. He helped me to see that we all have wobbles in our diabetes management. In fact, we all know that living with diabetes is not easy all the time. That’s when peer support can be so great; you don’t have to explain your experience, other people with diabetes already know and can empathise with you, which can really help.”

*DAFNE stands for dose-adjustment for normal eating. www.dafne.nhs.uk https://dafne.nhs.uk/ This Omnipod® System/Omnipod DASH® System user testimonial relates to an individual’s’ response to treatment and experience with the Omnipod® System/Omnipod DASH® System. The individual’s’ response does not provide any indication, guide, warranty or guarantee as to the response other persons may have when using the Omnipod® System/ Omnipod DASH® System. The response other persons have could be different. Please speak to your diabetes healthcare professional to assess your suitability for the Omnipod DASH® System. © 2024 Insulet Corporation. Omnipod, the Omnipod logo, DASH, and the Omnipod DASH logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Insulet Corporation in the United States of America and other various jurisdictions. All rights reserved. INS-ODS-11-2022-00014 V1.0