A NORTH Swindon student is one of the first people to try out a new app to help her manage diabetes.

Twelve-year-old Geor-gia Selley, who attends Kingsdown School, has been living with Type One diabetes since she was two, and has to test her blood sugar levels as many as 12 times a day.

She is one of more than 100 youngsters trying out the new Monster Manor app, which aims to help children manage their condition by reminding them when they need to test their blood sugar levels.

Whenever they log their levels in as part of the game, they win points which helps them to move up a level.

Georgia, of Warrener Road, said: “I think it’s really good. I think it will help people who have just been diagnosed with diabetes and motivate them to test themselves.

“I think it will help me because I have a lot to remember in the day and I think it will help me remember.

“It’s quite fun – it’s quite addictive because I can’t stop playing it.”

Only 15 per cent of young children manage to achieve their blood sugar targets but youngsters aged six to 13 are expected to take on increasing responsibility for testing and logging their own sugar levels.

It is hoped the new healthcare app, which was developed by Ayogo Health, which worked with Diabetes UK and Sanofi Diabetes to create Monster Manor, will help improve the statistics.

Georgia’s mother Robyn said: “Diabetes is a chronic disease and it’s quite difficult to manage, especially in children because their levels are easily affected by their moods, by the temperature and other similar things. Georgia is at secondary school now and so she doesn’t get reminders from the school.

“Sometimes she comes home from school and she hasn’t pricked her finger to test her sugar levels as much as she needs to.

“Georgia is now at the age where she often forgets to test.

“She had a go on the game and she said it was quite addictive so hopefully it will help her to get into the habit of testing herself regularly.

“Georgia enjoys playing games on her tablet so if it encourages her to get into a routine of testing too then that has got to be good for her health long term.”

Type One diabetes is an auto-immune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food.

Its onset has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. There is nothing you can do to prevent Type One diabetes, and at present it is incurable.

People with the disease must balance insulin doses with eating and other activities throughout the day and night.

Monster Manor is available on iPod, iPhone, iPad and Android and can be downloaded free from the Apple App Store or Google Play.