A 10-year-old boy has created and released his second book that portrays a superhero with Type 1 Diabetes.
The Adventures of Captain Lantus has been inspired by Iron Man’s chest pump, after Max Rapson, 10, who has Type 1 Diabetes, realised his pump to manage diabetes also keeps him alive.
The second book, The Aventures of Captain Lantus 2, adds to the series, which also includes a third activity book, and adds to a total of 3,000 books produced, sold and donated by Max and his dad to change the lives of newly diagnosed young people.
Max, from Stafford, says: “I always knew that I wanted to write books, but it was only really in lockdown that I got my story inspiration from having Type 1 Diabetes. I told my dad that my pump keeps me alive, just like Iron Man’s chest plate. I started writing, then my dad helped me make my dream a reality and we put the book together.”
“When you are a young person who is diagnosed, you can feel terror and panic, and so can your parents! I wanted the book to help change perspectives that managing your Diabetes with a pump is heroic, like a superhero. My dad has told me that since I created Captain Lantus, he has seen on social media that children who I haven’t even met have chosen to dress as him to show their favourite superhero on World Book Day, it’s the best feeling ever knowing I’ve helped other young people like me to be inspired to change how they view having diabetes.”
He has found that talking to his school friends about his condition has been made much easier by having his book to hand, which is included on the book shelves of classrooms athis school.
He continues: “I’ve even had school friends come up to me to say they wish they had my superhero pump that monitors my glucose levels. I’m now onto my second book and there are lots more stories to tell. Captain Lantus lives in a world where I’ve made medical words part of the story in an imaginative way, to help young people understand the science behind what diabetes is.”
“As I’ve got older, my school friends have come along on the journey. When I was 6 they thought my superhero creation was cool and now I’m 10 they’re starting to ask more about how I manage daily life with diabetes. Having donated or sold 3,000 books to children worldwide, I just want to keep writing and help as many children as possible.”
Max’s Dad, Gary Rapson, has supported his creative project and helped with production and distribution. He says: “In lockdown, I had some time to think and support Max with his goal of writing a book, as my job was in the balance, and I remember one night I realised that Max should write the book I wish I’d had to explain his diabetes to him when he was diagnosed as a three year old – he’d already described his pump to me as a superpower – so it was the perfect fit for a book.”
“We completed the initial draft by taking a page each, and I began to pitch out the story idea to literary agents and got immediate feedback that we had a good idea. There are other children’s books out there – we’ve found that the ones we’ve read can be literal in explaining the condition and how it is managed – so, we wanted to create a fresh take on this by sharing a new world of ideas that added personality and superhero dynamics, where diabetes became part of the story with unlimited possibilities for adventures.”
“It’s been a labour of love and money from every book we sell goes back into donating books to those in need, whether its parents in Facebook groups who explain their child is newly diagnosed, or schools and hospitals with diabetic centres. We’ve donated to countries across the world from America to Australia to Africa and South America. It amazes me how many lives Max has changed through writing this book. Medtronic also bought 1,000 books to go into care packages for children who receive pumps to manage their condition. The process itself has helped Max support others who have experienced the uncertain time around diagnosis that Max did.”
The Adventures of Captain Lantus 2 is priced at £5.99. To order a copy of the book, visit https://www.captainlantus.com/. Help Max and his dad Gary support National Diabetes Month with the Blue Balloon Challenge. Find out more: https://www.medtronicdiabetes.com/blue-balloon-challenge
