American Girl from Mattel has come up with a new accessory for its dolls and the kids are loving it. It's a diabetes care kit, which is priced at $24, and it's helping the children with the condition tolerate and deal with their sickness better.
Today reports that the idea for the American Girl diabetes care kit comes from a young girl who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 11. Anja Busse, now 13, launched a petition two years ago asking American Girl to come up with dolls for children like her.
"If they made American Girl doll diabetic accessories it would make thousands of diabetic kids like me happy," Anja wrote in her petition. Fortunately, Mattel listened. The diabetes care kit is already up on the American Girl site for purchase.
Thanks to a 13-yr-old, you can get a diabetes care kit with your American Girl doll https://t.co/1adm9yFYwm pic.twitter.com/7yqDbxlVZl
— Her Campus (@HerCampus) May 6, 2016
Anja makes use of the American Girl doll with diabetes care kit to help educate her peers about her condition. "There are a lot of things people just don't understand," said Anja, via the New York Times. "They would try to give me advice and say I should be on a diet, or that they had a cure for this," she added. "They confuse it with Type 2 diabetes, and all kinds of rumors that aren't even true."
Reviews for the product have been great and most commended American Girl for coming out with the accessory. "[My daughter] thought it was very realistic because her aunt has diabetes and she always helps her," one mother wrote on the site. "[My daughter] is 5 years old and has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes for almost a year now. It really makes checking her sugar a little better," another mom shared.
A diabetic doll from American Girl has sold so briskly it's already on back order https://t.co/RfPhFA8fhh pic.twitter.com/frtDhHi7Nt
— Halle Tecco (@halletecco) May 4, 2016
At least 1.25 million children and young adults in America suffer from Type 1 diabetes or juvenile diabetes, per Diabetes.Org. It's a life-long condition that has affected children counting their carb intake and constantly pricking their fingers to check for blood sugar levels since their body doesn't produce enough insulin. Watch a review of the American Girl doll with diabetes care kit below:
