Dirk Meissner, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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VANCOUVER - A Vancouver mother says her 11-year-old daughter won back her childhood when she was fitted with a $7,000 insulin pump to control her Type 1 diabetes.

Cheryl Simpson said Wednesday diabetes was ruling her daughter Ellery's life until the family paid for the insulin pump that gave her the freedom to be a kid again by taking her away from the constant needles and diet-watching necessary to control her diabetes.

But British Columbia doesn't pay for the pumps or the supplies they require, though Ontario, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland cover them for children under their provincial medicare plans.

Simpson and the NDP Opposition think the province should be paying for the pumps.

B.C. Health Minister George Abbott said covering the health-care costs associated with insulin pumps is under a review which should be complete by next month.

Ellery, like thousands of other Canadian children, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was seven years old. After a year of insulin shots and a strict diet, her parents decided to pay for a pump to regulate Ellery's insulin levels.

"After struggling to manage Ellery's juvenile diabetes for a year - with four to five needles of insulin every day, timing and weighing every meal and snack that came near her - the insulin pump brought some of our family life back," Simpson said.

She said the pump brought her daughter a more normal life.

"She could go with friends and have a snack. Go to birthday parties and experience most of the things other kids do, field trips, dance lessons, swimming. She could eat when she wanted and correct her blood sugars when they were out of whack."

Insulin pumps, which are attached to the body through a type of shunt, are able to monitor and regulate insulin levels and deliver life-sustaining insulin at a steady rate based on an individual's needs.

They cost about $7,000 and the insulin and supply costs range between $3,000 and $5,000 a year.

Simpson said after she witnessed the improvements to her daughter's well-being with the pump, she started to feel sorry for families who couldn't afford one for their diabetic children.

"I got involved in this because I was upset that there were parents that would be made to feel badly if they couldn't offer this treatment to their children," she said.

The Canadian Diabetes Association says provinces should seriously consider covering the costs associated with insulin pumps because they save health costs over time.

"It keeps them healthier longer," said Karen Philp, the association's public policy vice president.

"You end up preventing the onset of serious complications or delaying them, so it's actually good for everyone."

She said people diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes have a high risk of suffering a heart attack within 15 years. Diabetics are also in danger of suffering from kidney disease, Philp said.

She said not every diabetic can use an insulin pump, but for those that can, the pump acts as a sort of external pancreas.

"You can actually avoid some of the serious damage that happens to your internal organs," Philp said.

She noted Ontario has extended its insulin pump program to cover adults starting next month.

New Brunswick indicated in its budget this year that it will start to cover the costs of insulin pumps for children, she said, joining Ontario, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland.

Abbott said British Columbia is studying the costs associated with providing the pumps for children.

"This is a relatively new issue in the world of health-care expenditures and at this point, seven provinces don't cover, but some like British Columbia are reviewing whether they should," he said.

Abbott said the support for insulin pumps by the Canadian Diabetes Association will form part of British Columbia's review.

"The review will lay out in detail both the merits, the advantages, the business case, as well as the cost of undertaking the costs of insulin pumps," he said.

New Democrat health critic Adrian Dix, who himself suffers from diabetes, said British Columbia should follow Ontario's lead.