A treatment which offers freedom, flexibility and fewer negative side effects to those suffering from insulin-dependent (Type 1) diabetes is now available.

The Diabetes Centre at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital started five patients -- three children and two adults -- on the programme yesterday.

Until the opportunity to test this new insulin pump therapy, these individuals had to take upwards of four insulin injections a day to control the disease.

But beyond the convenience of the therapy, it also has the potential to extend and even save lives.

Even if a person with diabetes follows a control programme there is still a high probability of serious side effects such as kidney failure or blindness, said Debbie Jones and Sara McKittrick, of the Diabetes Centre.

Diabetes treatment offers hope Doctors have no idea what causes Type 1 diabetes but it is differentiated from Type 2 -- the much more common form of the disease caused by lifestyle factors such as poor diet and lack of exercise -- in that it arises randomly and those with it must take insulin as their pancreas simply does not function.

Ms Jones said there are roughly 100 people on the Island with Type 1 diabetes -- about 20 of that number are children -- against nearly 8,000 people with Type 2.

Two-year-old Daniel McRonald was the youngest person to receive one of the pumps yesterday. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 21 months old. His father, Mark, remembers all too well that the toddler was diagnosed on Easter Sunday.

He said that Daniel had been very ill and lethargic for several days. He was losing weight rapidly and "just drank and drank all the time''.

Although he and his wife, Rachael, contacted their doctor they were told the boy would be alright for the weekend. But on Sunday, "his eyes rolled right back in his head,'' said Mr. McRonald, "then it was straight to the Emergency Room.'' Daniel's blood sugar read over 700 -- normal range is 70 to 150 -- and he was nearly comatose.

Like the four others who began the treatment programme yesterday -- Richard Oliver, Libby Fisher and teenagers Danielle Lee Pacheco and Tiffany Thorne -- Daniel will now receive a continuous flow of insulin through his new pump.

The rate of insulin delivery will be monitored by a mini-computer into which each of the patients will submit information about the number of carbohydrates in each of their meals.

Unlike the past system the patients were using, where multiple injections of long acting insulin were taken several times a day, the pump allows the patients to eat when they want to eat. In the past, injections and meals had to follow a rigorous schedule.

"The best thing,'' said 15-year-old Danielle, "is that now I'll get to sleep in.'' To become familiar with carb counting and working the pump's computer, the patients have been taken through an orientation programme by the Diabetes Centre.

And yesterday, after the pumps were attached in the morning. Lunch was served at the Centre and everyone went through the process of calculating the components of their meal in order to tell the pump specifically how much insulin to deliver.

Later that evening, the group went to La Trattoria for dinner, to run through the process in a restaurant -- where portion sizes and meal content can be vastly less predictable.

All five patients spent last night in hospital in order to monitor the effects of the new pumps but this morning they entered a new phase of freedom from diabetes.

"This is the first time I'll go to a dance where I won't have to constantly check my blood sugar,'' said 16-year-old Tiffany, as she displayed for the table at the restaurant the new white and silver jeans she will show off for admirers tonight.

A sixth person who recently started pump therapy also joined the group at dinner. Judi Davidson received her pump six weeks ago when a group from the Diabetes Centre went to Atlanta to meet with Mini-Med, the company that is supplying the Island with pump therapy equipment.

"I've lived with the (injection) routine my whole life,'' she said. "I love my new pump and the freedom it gives me.'' Ms Davidson has seen great changes in insulin treatment over the 43 years since she was diagnosed with diabetes. At one point she had to deal with glass syringes and needles that had to be sharpened on a stone. Those old syringes and needles had to be boiled and constantly re-used, a process she went through even on her wedding night.

But she did not escape the negative side effects of the disease. "I have them all,'' she said. These include kidney disease, early cataracts and lessening of feeling in the nerve endings.

"I'm thrilled to see these teenagers and youngsters able to go through this modern treatment I didn't have,'' she said.

New hope: Daniel McRonald, 2, received his new insulin pump yesterday.