Page 17 of A Family Affair
Nope, Levi couldn’t.
‘She’s like a firework, or one of those birthday candles that re-lights itself. Ziggy was the one who thought of mad pranks, wasn’t scared of anything or anyone, would join an after-school club even if she didn’t think she’d be any good at it, just to see what it was like. To tick the box. She’s really bad at singing and didn’t make the choir – thank heaven – but was captain of the netball team and played rugby at weekends. My grandad used to say she was built like a brick shi– strong and sturdy.’
Then Honey fell silent and raised her glass, taking a sip, suddenly thoughtful.
Levi hated awkward silences and always felt the urge to fill the gap so said the first thing that came into his head, and he meant it.
‘Ziggy. That’s a cool name. I take it she’s a Bowie fan. Or her parents are.’
At this Honey brightened.
‘Neither actually. Ziggy is a mad Bob Marley fan and that’s his son’s name, who she also had a long-distance and unrequited crush on. Never shut up about him so, in year nine we started calling her Ziggy and it stuck. And to be fair, she does look the part. Sorry, I’m going off track again.’
Honey put her glass down and turned her body so she was facing Levi.
‘Right. Just after her fourteenth birthday, Ziggy got sick. She was what her mum described as “big-boned”. Shelovedher food, but suddenly lost her appetite and started to lose weight. Ziggy didn’t care at first. I mean, what teenage girl complains about shedding pounds; but soon it became really noticeable. And she was tired all the time and had no energy. I remember her falling asleep in lessons and saying the whiteboard looked fuzzy. And she was always thirsty.’
Honey pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear then continued.
‘It was the summer term, and we were doing track and field for PE. I was by Ziggy’s side and heard her say, “Honey, I can’t do this. I need to tell sir I don’t feel well.” And when I turned round she wasn’t there. She was sprawled on the floor unconscious. I thought she was messing about at first but when I couldn’t wake her I knew something was badly wrong and then, all hell broke loose.’
Honey looked like she was going to cry, the memory of that day etched on her face, so Levi tried to make it easier for her.
‘I think I know what you’re going to say… she had diabetes, didn’t she?’
Honey nodded. ‘Yes, Type 1. And that’s why I give to a charity that supports anyone with the condition because I saw first-hand the effect it has on someone.’
Levi wanted to touch Honey’s hand because it felt right but then chickened out so instead asked her to go on.
‘From the moment they took her off in the ambulance, Ziggy’s life and all the stuff we’d planned and talked about changed forever. She went straight into re-sus at A&E, then spent a week in the critical care unit, where they slowly got her better; but really, that was just the start of her journey. And it wasn’t easy.’
‘What do you mean?’
Honey looked thoughtful, as though she was going back in time, to her teenage self, trying to remember and get the words right. ‘It’s sometimes tough being a teenager, isn’t it?’
Levi nodded, knowing exactly what she meant but not wanting to admit he was still feeling the aftershocks.
‘Imagine youandyour parents having to have lessons – I suppose you could call them that. They had to have them in hospital, before Ziggy could come home. Learning how to manage a condition for which there is no cure. One that through no fault of her own, or anyone’s, struck out of the blue and attacked her immune system.’
Levi was there with them. ‘Awful, what a nightmare. How did they cope?’
‘It was a total mind-bomb. For Ziggy and her family. The days of getting a bag of crisps after school or raiding the cupboards whenever you felt like a cheeky chocolate bar were gone. Mealtimes, days out, hanging around with your friends, meant weighing and calculating how many carbohydrates were in your food. While the other kids at school legged it to the corner shop and wolfed down a 50p mix-up, Ziggy had to inject insulin first. Each time she ate, an apple, a glass of milk, a biscuit out of the tin.’
Levi was genuinely shocked. ‘Really, I didn’t know.’
‘Yes, they told her she could eat anything she wanted, and it wasn’t like she could never eat sugar again, but each mouthful came at a cost if you didn’t follow the rules. But that was just part of it.’
Levi’s heart sank as Honey carried on.
‘One evening just after she came out of hospital, I went round to her house and found her crying in her bedroom. She told me her life was ruined. That she hated T1. She said it was the first thing she thought about as soon as she woke up, and the last thing at night. Like a voice in her head saying, “I’ve got diabetes, I’m different.” She’d also been looking stuff up, and convinced herself she was going to go blind, or have her feet amputated and die young. All sorts of hideous things and, basically, she was terrified.’
‘Poor Ziggy,’ and Levi meant it.
‘It was so sad. She asked me,“Who’s going to want a girlfriend who has to stick needles in her body every time she eats?” And no matter what I said, she didn’t believe me. She was also adamant she wasn’t going back to school. “There’s no point, not now”.I remember it like it was yesterday.’
Levi could tell from Honey’s face that her friend’s pain had affected her deeply. ‘That’s terrible. Why didn’t she want to go back to school?’
Honey answered. ‘Ziggy’s dream was to be a medic in the armed forces. She’d set her sights on it; took the right options, even going down to the army careers office to get all the info. We got the bus into Manchester, and she wassoexcited on the ride home. Despite being a bit of a rebel, she always worked really hard at school, and I truly believed that she’d do it. She was even going to join the army cadets the following term, but she never did.’
