Receiving the support she needed to understand and manage a diabetes diagnosis saved a Waitara woman’s life, she says.
Sandra Soffe (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama, Te Ati Awa) was told she was pre-diabetic during a hospital appointment, but didn’t really know what it meant.
“I heard the word pre-diabetic, but nobody explained to me what it was so I just swept it under the carpet because no one seemed concerned, and I thought that must mean it’s nothing,” she said.
Later, a community health check pop-up organised by the Māori Women’s Welfare League prompted a visit to her doctor, where she was told she had a diabetic blood glucose reading of 51.
Sandra knew she had to do something, but wasn’t sure where to begin.
A doctor at Tui Ora offered to arrange for someone to visit her at home, and a week later Tui Ora Kaitautoko Mate Huka – Sandy Pyke, turned up at her door.
“She probably saved my life, it makes me teary thinking about it,” she says gratefully. “From not knowing a thing about diabetes to knowing everything I needed to know was awesome.”
Rather than arriving with a lecture, Sandy brought practical tools like a food diary and a blood glucose testing kit.
Sandra diligently began recording what she ate and reviewed her diary with Sandy during her visits, which gave her the space to notice her own habits and decide what she could change.
With this method she was able to go into remission and get her blood glucose reading down to a pre-diabetic level and maintain it. “I went from 51 to 45,” she says proudly.
Her diary holds more than a list of meals. Sandra writes reminders to herself and notes about her activity, often with humorous additions like ‘growling’ at herself for not drinking enough water or recounting honestly how her fitness session had gone that day.
“If I said five years ago that I’m going to be doing two lots of exercise classes a week and going swimming in the morning, I would be laughing at myself and saying no way you’re going to be doing that!” she smiles.
Outside of her regular fitness classes and swimming sessions, Sandra is also a keen crafter who works with wool and flax, sews, and loves to bake.
She has found ways to keep enjoying cooking and baking while changing how much she eats herself.
“I’m a baker, I’m a cook. I love feeding people,” she says, “I want to have a taste and then give it away to someone who can appreciate it.”
Her motivation to improve her hauora came from wanting to be around for the people she loves.
Her daughter and whānau whom she ‘thinks the world of’ are now powerful reasons for her to continue to look after herself.
“I want to be around to see them have a full life,” she says.
Her whānau have joined her hauora journey by fully embracing the type of kai being put on the dining table. At Christmas, a tip Sandra shares for anyone wanting to be more health focused is to replace pudding with a delicious salad that still feels like a treat.
“By the time I’ve eaten the salad, I don’t really want to have a big helping of dessert,” she says.
Sandra and her whānau have turned this healthy approach into a Christmas tradition and have a salad making competition each year.
While she admits she may have taken a short-cut last year by getting a salad from Wild Pear in town rather than making it herself, she laughs that it’s all in good spirit.
Asked what others can do to support someone living with pre-diabetes or diabetes, Sandra’s answer is simple.
“I think just listening to them and letting them know that you’re there,” she says. “It’s exactly the kind of support I valued from Sandy.”