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Driver Runs Over Medical Device Needed By Diabetic Girl

PLYMOUTH (CBS) - Eleven-year-old Lee-Anne Taylor is a Type-1 diabetic – meaning an insulin pump is her constant companion.

It was plainly visible on her arm as she drew with chalk on the sidewalk of her Plymouth apartment on Monday night. But something else was missing.

"I'm kind of mad that happened," says the youngster.

Lee-Anne Taylor Plymouth diabetic-girl
Lee-Anne Taylor. (Photo: Ken MacLeod/WBZ-TV)

She's talking about when her new CGM was run over and ruined. "CGM" is short for 'continuous glucose monitor' – a device that transmits blood sugar alerts to her mother 24/7.

"It gives me peace of mind," sighs Michelle Taylor, a single mother who is now on disability herself.

But that peace of mind vanished at Nantasket Beach in Hull on Friday. Lee-Anne was there with a friend's family when she suddenly realized that she had somehow lost her glucose monitor. So she quickly retraced her steps, only to spot it lying in the street.

"Before she could pick it up," says her mother, "somebody ran it over."

nantasket beach hull
A driver at Nantasket Beach in Hull ran over the medical device several times, Lee-Anne said. (WBZ-TV)

Indeed, Lee-Anne scrambled over, but a woman trying to park beat her there.

"So she had went over it once," says Lee-Anne, "and then twice, and then a third time. And then to back up and park was the fourth time."

And when Lee-Anne picked up the broken device, that driver simply looked at her and smiled.

"If it was an accident," says her mother, "you wouldn't be smiling. You'd be apologizing."

It's an $800 continuous glucose monitor -- $200 if insurance accepts the claim. But Michelle Taylor has neither.

"I talked to the State Police and they said, sadly, it's an accident," she says.

It'll mean more finger pricks for Lee-Anne, as she checks her blood sugar the old fashioned way – and then texts the results to her mother. It's the kind of thing that's hard to chalk up to experience – when you're only 11.

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