Clare campaigner honoured for diabetes work

AN Ennis patient advocate has won a MACE Unsung Heroes Sports, Health and Wellbeing Award in recognition of her tireless work on behalf of the diabetes community in the Mid-West.

In total, MACE presented five category Unsung Heroes Community awards, including the award to Gráinne Flynn, with each individual category winner being rewarded with cheques for €1,000.

Each winner was contacted personally by Johnny Sexton to inform them of their win.

Ms Flynn runs a number of peer support groups, to allow those with diabetes to chat to another person going through the same issues. She has also campaigned tirelessly for better services for those with diabetes.

She is thrilled with the award and so humbled to have been nominated by her friend Aisling White from the Midwest Diabetes Group.

“I have been volunteering with Diabetes Ireland since 2007 and the Midwest Diabetes Advocacy Group formed through this when members of the community based in Clare and Limerick reached out to me asking how they could help advocate to improve diabetes services locally in 2019.

“We are a group of six people: three from Clare and three from Limerick who have been working together since to achieve this.

“This award is a recognition of all the groups efforts and to all advocates volunteering in the local communities to improve diabetes care,” she said.

Currently undertaking a Bachelor of Arts degree in University of Limerick, Gráinne has been living with diabetes since 1993, when she was diagnosed at 20 years old and lives in Ennis with her husband and two teenage children.

In 2007, she started volunteering with Diabetes Ireland, the Irish national charity for people with diabetes and helped to set up the Diabetes Support Groups in Ennis and also organised Diabetes Information Events for the general public.

Through volunteering with Diabetes Ireland, she was asked to redesign their logo and is responsible for the publication of the Irish Diabetes Starter Kit; A Guide for Newly Diagnosed Adults.

She started blogging in May 2010 and this evolved into BloodSugarTrampoline.com, which is a combination of her personal diary about living with diabetes in Ireland and sharing information about the health services available in Ireland.

She is one of the founding members of Thriveabetes; the first Irish Type One diabetes conference organised by people with diabetes whose mission is to inform, motivate, and inspire everyone living with diabetes.

The nationwide MACE Unsung Heroes Community Awards initiative were initially launched in 2020 by Ireland rugby star Johnny Sexton to stimulate community spirit and recognise true local heroes like Gráinne in communities all around Ireland.

Following its success, the company was excited to go to the country once again this year and ask communities to nominate that special someone who goes the extra mile to make a difference, so they get the recognition they deserve.

MACE sales director Peter Dwan said, the phenomenal success of these awards is borne out by the stories of the people like Gráinne who go over and above for their community without looking for anything in return.

“MACE is very proud of this initiative, which is reflective of the spirit of our retailers, and seeing someone like Gráinne celebrated for all that she does is a privilege.
“She is a truly inspiring person and I am awestruck and full of admiration for her commitment. Grainne truly embodies all that we look for in our heroes and I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this acknowledgement.”