WHO WE ARE

Aisling White: 
Aisling White has been living with type 1 diabetes for the past 26 years. She qualified with a Bachelors of Education in 2017 and works as a primary school teacher. She has also been delivering workshops for the Education Support Centres around the country in recent months to provide training to teachers and SNAs on supporting children with diabetes in school. She is a committee member of the Limerick Diabetes Support Group (with the amazing Averil and Jill!), co-founded the Irish Adults with Type 1 Exercise Support Group (also with Averil and Jill!) and is an active member of the MidWest Diabetes Advocacy Group. In 2020 she completed the IDF Europe Youth Leadership lab and travelled to Brussels to represent Diabetes Ireland on the program. She is also a member of the Diabetes Ireland Advocacy Group, the Global Heart Hub Advocacy Group, IDF blue circle voices network and the Yourah Diabetes Leadership Network. She recently received a scholarship to attend the Young One World Conference in Manchester for Youth Leaders.

Ashling O’Kelly:
Ashling lives in Limerick and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 42 in November 2018, and currently attends University Hospital Limerick - the only member of our group to do so. Ashling was discharged from hospital on World Diabetes Day and loves the coincidence.
After meeting up with Limerick Support group in January 2019, Ashling learned about CGMs, insulin pumps, diet, exercise and a huge amount more about living with and the management of type 1 diabetes. Ashling also went to the Clare Support group meetings in 2019, eager to learn as much as possible. 2019 was a year of support group meetings plus three conferences and a meet up in the Diabetes Ireland offices. Ashling attended the Galway Clinic in 2019/2020 and got an insulin pump and CGM which has greatly helped her to manage her diabetes.

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Erin Dolan:
Originally from America, Erin has been living with type 1 diabetes for over 30 years. She is a world traveller from living in Australia to cycling across Central America and backpacking through Asia. Erin is a Diabetes Health Coach and creator of CrazyAboutDiabetes where she empowers other people with diabetes to live happier and healthier lives. She now resides in Clare in the beautiful seaside town of Lahinch with her husband and 2 children. Erin recently travelled to Barcelona for the DXevent ran by Abbott as a result of her advocacy, blogging, and media work around Diabetes.
 

Grainne Flynn:
Gráinne was diagnosed with diabetes in 1993 aged 20. She has attended diabetes services in Dublin, Minneapolis, Limerick, Ennis, and Ballina. She's been volunteering in diabetes advocacy since 2007 and is the creator of the Clare diabetes support group, co-founder of the Thriveabetes Conference with Christine Meehan, and volunteers with Diabetes Ireland’s Advocacy Group. Gráinne recently presented for TedX at UCC about the importance of feeding your grassroots in advocacy work.

Jean Langford: 
Jean hails from Limerick City and has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 16 years now (silently for 13 of those years). She attended UHL group as a teen and young adult, where she was resigned to a very low standard of living with type 1 diabetes as a result of the inadequate care, and oblivious to the technology and peer support available. Since attending Cork in 2018 and having access to diabetes technology, diabetes education, and proper support, Jean has become dedicated to raising awareness around living with Diabetes, advocating for better access to care, education, and support for those living with all forms of Diabetes on a local and national level.
Jean's advocacy work recently brought her to Barcelona with Abbott and to ATTD in Barcelona with DeDoc voices. She also just began her placement with the International Diabetes Federation for their Youth Lab and is the only Irish representative this year.

Jill Franz
A previous Journalism and New Media student, Jill became a full-time insulin user in November 2015 after being diagnosed at 24 y/o. Jill spends most of her time with her rescue staffie, Sarah, drinking too much coffee, day-dreaming, and coming up with the great notions, tasks and projects to make her To-Do list longer.
During the pandemic she moved from Ireland to Vienna. Dreaming of adventure, new cultures and wanting to take pictorial evidence of her travels. However, these were dashed as lockdowns were enforced due to COVID which gave her the much needed time to throw herself into personal projects and tackle her long To-Do List. Examples are: The Type 1 Adult Diabetic Exercise Group page with the fabulous Aisling White & Averil Adair, the Midwest Advocacy Group (with the fabulous ladies here), actioning issues on the UHL Patient Council, and running the Limerick T1 Adult Support Group (with Ash and Averil).