Ash
Ashley Hooyberg is the adored son of Katrina and Robert, brother to Corin, Dionne, Heath and Uncle to Jimmy and Lucy.
Ash’s family moved from Stoneville to Bunbury Christmas eve 2003.
Ash completed his schooling in Bunbury and met lifelong mates. His mates and family were so important to him.
On moving to Perth to attend university, Ash was dealt a couple of health blows: Firstly, being diagnosed with Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome (WPWS) in March 2013 and then three months later he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus, for which there is no cure. Ash was twenty.
WPWS was later corrected by surgery after he suffered a cardiac arrest, which would have taken Ash’s life had it not been for a quick-thinking medical student, the help of his basketball team and a nearby defibrillator at the Curtin University Gymnasium. Two surgeries later, Ash’s WPWS was corrected.
Ash’s mother Katrina went with him for his first appointment with the endocrinologist. They were given the basics from the doctor and were out within 30 minutes. It was an overwhelming experience trying to take in the enormity of what was being said and how this was going to affect Ash forevermore. Sitting in the car afterwards they had little idea about the disease or what was in store for the future. Calculate calories / sugar?? Blood glucose/ how much insulin to take?? Short-acting or long-acting insulin? What time is a good time to inject?? What is too high, what happens when it’s high? What’s too low and what happens then?? They did a lot of Googling, searching for practical advice and tips, relevant to Ash’s age and active life.
Not many people realise that lifestyle choices do not bring on type 1 diabetes. Instead, it’s an autoimmune reaction where a person’s body suddenly mistakenly starts destroying insulin-producing cells. Insulin allows our cells to absorb energy from the food we eat, and without insulin, the cells starve. To stay alive, a person with type 1 diabetes must administer insulin, many times a day, for the rest of their life.
Ash never complained about the blows he had been dealt, he simply got on with life, but life for Ash was now tough and not the carefree one he was used to. Those closest to him knew how isolating T1D was, navigating the world with an invisible illness that most people barely understand.
Ash was not leaving Perth and he carried the burden of trying to understand this on his own. He was never one to ask for help, he was moving away from the umbrella of family and becoming his own man – a fiercely independent one.
It fell on Ash to work out how to manage his diet, blood sugars and insulin doses by himself all while balancing the hectic young adult schedule of studies, socialising, sport, and irregular work hours. It was challenging and sometimes very scary, particularly when miscalculations in doses occurred. There was no off switch. It was relentless. 24/7.
Ash never saw himself as a victim, despite having endured things that would make many people fall apart.
The Type 1 Family Centre’s mantra is “Life Without Limits” is exactly what Ash espoused.
Ash loved life and was determined to live a full and healthy one. He completed university, worked in several different fields (and had just started a mature age electrical apprenticeship with ‘Programmed’, which he loved), had a gorgeous girlfriend, a rock-solid group of friends and went on camping adventures with his mates. Ash loved giving anything a go and would be dogged in achieving his goals. He was an excellent drummer, a handy car mechanic (guided by his good mate Reece) and a pretty handy wakeboarder. He loved footy especially the Freo Dockers, attending his first games from the age of three. He was so looking forward to the 2023 season and on the night he passed away he had told his girlfriend that he had been to watch the Dockers train after work. He was a lover of sports, both on the field and off and obsessively analysed the competitions he followed. He was a voracious reader and critical thinker who loved to learn and would debate anyone willing to engage.
Ash was also incredibly careful with his diet and kept extremely fit, gym every day possible – no mean feat for a person who would happily eat a family block of chocolate in a single sitting and play video games all day prior to being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Everyone around him was in awe of how dedicated he was in trying to manage his diabetes as best as he could. He was determined to avoid a life marred by complications of diabetes (such as blindness and limb loss, just to name a couple). Looking at Ash just before he died, you would never think that a man that appeared as healthy as he did could just drop dead.
Ash passed away suddenly overnight on the 3rd of March 2023 just short of his 30th birthday. It was a shock for everyone who knew him.
The exact cause of Ash’s death may never be known but all the information available to his family leads them to believe that his death may have been caused by complications of his diabetes causing hypoglycaemia.
Lack of knowledge, changes in diet, a simple terrible mistake in dosing…. all may have contributed. Sadly, too many young people die or suffer terrible consequences of not getting it right.
Ash was such a beautiful, honest, funny, resilient, and intelligent young man full of love, hope and good prospects. Everyone close to him misses him terribly and wants to help make a positive difference for young people with type 1 diabetes.
