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The photograph you can see is my brothers and me on holiday just before I was diagnosed with diabetes.  Over the summer holidays I started to feel unwell.  When we went on holiday I couldn't really join in as much as I wanted to and no-one knew why.  I felt so tired all the time and was thirsty in a way that most people could not even imagine - I was taking ice cubes out of people's glasses.  When we got back from holiday I became very ill - I stayed in bed all the time and was being very sick and could not eat.  After three days Mum took me to the doctors; I was very drowsy and Mum had to carry me.  I find it difficult to remember what happened that day, it is all a blur now.  Mum told me that an ambulance had been called and I was taken immediately to Frimley Park Hospital.  That day I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and I was suffering from a life-threatening condition called Diabetic Ketoacidosis, which means my blood was being poisoned.

It's difficult for me to write about this now because it still makes me very upset.  I feel like it's very unfair and I wish it wasn't happening to me.  I have to give myself injections and test my blood a minimum of four times every day and this hurts. I hate knowing that I have this and it affects everything I do.  I like playing sports but I have to be worried all the time about having low or high blood sugar and I have to always be careful about what I eat and when I eat it.

I know that at the moment there is no cure for diabetes but we want to raise money for Diabetes UK so that they can carry on their research into care, cure and prevention and can support people who have diabetes.  I am hoping that this challenge will help me to feel more positive about my diabetes.

Mum and I are naming our event '31 day January Challenge' and we are setting 31 mini challenges for each day in January 2014.  Some of them are things we have never done before, some of them are sporting challenges (not easy for mum!!) and some involve mental or pratical challenges.  We will post a list of all our challenges on this page.

We aim to make as much money as we can.  Please help us by donating to our challenge and wish us luck!

 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

To follow our progress during the month please go to: www.our31daychallenge.blogspot.com

Thank you very much.

Luke x