Kind Wigan schoolboy's sweet help for diabetics fleeing Ukraine

Ten-year-old Callum Holden has type-one diabetes and was concerned about people with the same condition who could fall ill if their blood sugar plunges.

So he launched an appeal for sweets and chocolates, which will be sent to refugees with diabetes to ensure they stay well.

His mum Lisa Catterall, from Hindley, said: “He has heard what’s going on in the Ukraine with Russia. He broke my heart.

“He said he wanted to help those people because if he didn’t, they might die. He said, ‘I can get my sweets and they can’t’. That’s where it’s come from.”

In just three days Callum had more than 140 bags of sweets and chocolates, thanks to donations from kind-hearted friends, relatives and families at Hindley Junior and Infant School, which he attends.

The collection continues, while he also has an Amazon wish list for people wondering what to give.

Callum is also asking for people who are diabetic to donate any extra equipment they have, such as ketone strips or test strips for bloods, for people in Ukraine.

The sweets and equipment will be transported to Kent, before a company sends them to the areas where Ukrainians are now based to be distributed.

Miss Catterall said: “Our body produces our own insulin, but with a diabetic it doesn’t produce any insulin, especially type-one, the pancreas doesn’t work at all.

“If your blood sugar becomes low, you need sugar to bring it back up and that’s what these sweets and chocolates would do.

“With three or four Fruit Pastilles, their blood sugar could become stable.

“If you don’t have them, you can end up in a diabetic coma and that can lead to death if it’s not treated.”

She is delighted that Callum has decided to do something to help those in need.

“I’m immensely proud of him,” she said.

“He has got so many health issues, because he is not just diabetic but coeliac and asthmatic, but he carries on with a smile on his face. His heart is huge.”

Donations to Callum’s appeal can be made by contacting his mum through Facebook or dropping them off at Hindley Junior and Infant School.

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