I was just 6 when i was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

Only around 10 per cent of people with diabetes in the UK have Type 1 diabetes like me, and many of them are children.

It’s got nothing to do with diet or lifestyle, it just happens & no one really knows why yet. 

When you have Type 1 diabetes, your body attacks the cells in your pancreas that make insulin, so you can't produce it at all.

Since I was a child I have had to prick my finger, test my blood & inject the correct amount of insulin several times a day & night to stay alive. 

This artificial method isn't great for the body & over time isn't without complication. 

After a good run of 28 years I started to feel the first effects of Diabetes on my body last year.

My eyes first bled from the inside in January 2018 & continued to do so randomly & frequently all year. Initially I was horrified at going partially blind, seeing clouds of blood cover my vision, which affected simple tasks and driving. The hardest part was not being able to look away. This affected my mental health a lot as I worried about future work and life. 

In total I probably spent whole weeks in hospital waiting rooms, sat in front of specialists or putting my head multiple times into a machine that uses lasers to burn away the capillaries on the inside of your eyeballs....whilst a Dr moves your eyeball for you with a glass rod .....and whilst awake!

I'm not complaining though, there are much worse off than me. I am grateful to the NHS doctors and nurses that have been incredible with their support and helped me to understand what is happening and get this under control.

I am also grateful to the friends and family that have been there for me, listened, driven me places, took my mind off things, waited in waiting rooms or gone with me to hospital. 

Now 2019 is looking a lot brighter (even though I am having a small bleed as we speak) & I want to raise money and awareness for Diabetes UK to give back, help research & help others like me find a cure in future. 

So £281 seems appropriate, 28 years, type 1. 

Don't worry if you cant donate, just some words of encouragement will be just as valuable!

*Ill be clocking up 22 miles- the width of the English Channel

*in 12 weeks, in my local pool. 

THATS 1,416 lengths!

.....and by challenging my body physically in the process I can prove to myself that I am not 100% knackered :)

Thank you!