The singer’s mother spent decades looking after her diabetic daughter. But in 2020 the tables turned when Aranka was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
This Mothering Sunday, singer Amelia Lily is keen to celebrate the special bond she has with her own mother, Aranka Bradley.
Aranka has been helping Amelia manage her type 1 diabetes since she was diagnosed at three years old, but now the roles are reversed, with Amelia providing emotional support for her 58-year-old mother, who developed the same condition in 2020.
“We share a unique bond and the diagnosis has definitely brought us closer together,” says the singer, 27, who lives in Middlesbrough with her mum.
“Although I’m sad for her because her life has changed drastically, she’s dealt with it so well,” Amelia says.
The singer spent her childhood learning to cope with diabetes, which affects approximately 400,000 people in the UK, including around 29,000 children.
“Mum tells me I would run behind the sofa to hide from getting my injections when I was little,” she says.
“I can’t imagine how sad that must have been for her.”
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While the family did their best, the condition was tough to keep under control.
I used to have hypo [hypoglycaemic] fits about once every month when my blood sugar dropped too low during the night,” says Amelia.
“I would get out of bed, not realising my blood sugar had dropped, try to go to the toilet and fall. Mum would hear the bang and find me on the floor.
“She’d regularly have to call an ambulance. It must have been really hard for her but I’d wake up in hospital and not have a clue what had happened.”
Over the years, thankfully, Amelia learned to manage her blood sugars better.
Then, in 2011, when she turned 16, she became a contestant on The X Factor, living away from home for the first time.
“It was hard,” she recalls. “The X Factor was the biggest show on TV at the time and suddenly my face was in every paper and every magazine.
"I’d just moved away from home and had to deal with my condition on my own for the first time which was daunting. “
Juggling my career, my personal life and my diabetes was a lot for me – I was still a child.”
Amelia had to inject herself with insulin four times a day and check her blood sugar regularly. Using lots of energy performing could cause her levels to drop dangerously low if she didn’t manage it well.
“Even something as simple as going for a walk or giving yourself slightly too much insulin can cause your blood sugar to drop, so I had to be particularly careful on stage,” she says.
After The X Factor, Amelia launched a stage career, most recently playing Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical’s UK Tour.
Then, in 2020, she returned to The X Factor Malta as a guest judge, flying out with her mother to film the show.
“In the months beforehand, Mum had lost a lot of weight,” she recalls.
“She wasn’t hungry, she was really tired all the time.
“Normally she looks like an athlete. She’s always been super fit and has muscles like Popeye.
"But when we got to Malta, mum said she was tired and decided to have a nap.
“Anybody who knows her understands that she usually can’t sit down for more than five minutes, so I knew something was wrong.
“I weighed her and she’d lost two or three stone, so I was really concerned.
“Then, on the way home, we were running for a train and Mum just couldn’t keep up with me, even though she’s the fittest woman I know.”
The following day, Aranka rang Amelia from work to say she was thirsty and her eyes were blurry, and she was going to the toilet a lot.
“When she got home I said: ‘Mum, I think we need to test your blood sugar’, as she had the four Ts of diabetes: thin, tired, thirsty and going to the toilet often.
“Her blood sugar reading was 33 and it’s meant to be between four and eight, so my brother Lewis and I took her straight to the hospital.”
Aranka was quickly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
"The doctor said: ‘Can you inject yourself?’ And it was so inspiring to watch, she just grabbed hold of the needle and stuck it in her tummy. There was no hesitation and I thought, ‘What a woman’,” she laughs.
“Later, my mum, Lewis and I sat around the kitchen table and said: ‘We’re in this together now.’
“All the years she had supported me and now I needed to be her support system.
“These days, Mum rings me when she’s having a hypo and we talk about how to treat it.”
Both Amelia and Aranka use FreeStyle Libre, a small device worn on their arms which constantly monitors their glucose levels and shows an upward or downward trend.
“I started using it in 2017 and it completely changed my life to not have to do fingerprick tests any more,” says Amelia.
“I used to have to prick my finger to measure my blood sugar levels several times a day, which meant I lost the feeling in my fingertip.
“For someone like me who’s got a very hectic lifestyle on stage all the time and filming TV shows, it’s incredible to be able to scan my sensor from my phone.”
Now, the singer is busy trying to help others who live with the condition, running an Instagram support group with her friend Vanessa Haydock, a fellow type 1 diabetic known as The Diabetic Health Coach.
The pair share tips on managing the condition.
“Now I’m so on it, I go on courses to learn more about diabetes and I’m really educated,” says Amelia.
“I know my own body so well. It was tough growing up but it’s made me the strong woman I am today.
“And now, whatever happens, I know Mum and I will always be in it together."
