Selfless north Derbyshire girl, 9, to chop long locks for charity after her own diabetes diagnosis

Jasmine Vaughan from Dronfield was rushed to hospital last September after her tongue went white and she began to vomit.

The youngster spent around five days in the intensive care unit (ICU) and was eventually diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes just weeks before her ninth birthday.

As the condition was unknown to her family at the time, Jasmine had developed diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a serious problem that is caused by a lack of insulin in the body and one which had caused her to experience symptoms such as sickness.

Her mum Tracey said: “When I took Jasmine to hospital, she couldn’t even walk. She was grey, all her bones were showing and she couldn’t keep anything down.

"It was very serious. They did say to me that if she’d arrived an hour later, she wouldn’t be here. It was really scary.

"We didn’t know she was diabetic at the time; she’s had a few issues but nothing that would have pointed at diabetes.

"It’s a lot at nine-years-old to have your lifestyle totally change, going from not doing anything to having to inject up to eight times a day.

"It’s not just a day thing, I’m having to feed her spoons of sugar sometimes at 2am.”

Jasmine is now raising money for Diabetes UK to support others with the condition and will be donating her hair to a children’s cancer charity.

The selfless schoolgirl, who attends Cutthorpe School, is planning to chop her 14-inch long hair in around eight weeks time.

Despite this, she has already smashed her original fundraising goal of £200 – and is now encouraging others to donate in a bid to raise as much money as possible for the cause.

Tracey, 50, added: “She just wants to make people aware as well because all her friends find it very difficult to understand that she can’t just go out and play as we need to be monitoring constantly.

"She’s a child who never liked injections… but she’s amazing for what she’s doing. I’m mega proud of her.”

To support Jasmine in her fundraising visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/going-to-cut-my-hair-and-raise-money.

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