18
NEWS
Drawing her way to success
Xanthe Taylor, an 11-year-old girl living with diabetes,
used her artistic skills to draw a diabetes superhero at
a national virtual event.
Despite being confined by the Covid
pandemic, Xanthe Taylor participated
in a virtual 'Camp in the Cloud' to
learn more about living with Type 1
diabetes and share her experience online with
other children and families from across the
country. It was organised by registered charity
Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation
(DRWF) in partnership with Over The Wall,
another charity.
Part of the event was a workshop with
medics and professional designers who have
created a comic series for young people living
with the condition. Xanthe's design was chosen
to be turned into a professional artwork and
was presented to her this week featuring her
superhero creations 'Super Nurse' and 'Insulin
Thief' as an art canvas.
After the event, Xanthe's mum, Paula Taylor
said: "A bit like Type 1 Diabetes, every day is
a battle, every day is different but as a family
we have learned to do things like carb-count,
work out insulin doses, inject it, and work
through the highs and lows together. She loves
drawing and art so the comic book workshop
with DRWF's Lee Calladine and Dr Patel from
Southampton General Hospital really interested
her. She designed her characters based on her
own story, how she played football and how the
Insulin Thief raided her pancreas, but the Super
Nurse gave her more insulin and made her
better again to score the winning Goal. When
we were told about the Camp in the Cloud we
decided, as a family, to do it. We dedicated our
weekend to it and loved every minute! Xanthe
was a bit nervous to begin with, but she started
speaking more towards the end."
Danny McLaughlin of Revolve Comics
congratulated Xanthe on her designs. He said,
"Everyone here loves to see the creativity that
comics can bring to young people. Well done to
Xanthe on creating some brilliant artwork and
wonderful characters that hopefully will inspire
more young people living with diabetes to get
creating their stories too."
Xanthe with her canvas by Revolve Comics.