After a period of being very unwell and not knowing why, on 21st September 1994 I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and my life was tipped upside down. At a time when there wasn’t a huge amount of awareness and understanding of the condition, I had to learn very quickly how to manage on a daily basis. As a teenager who did every sport under the sun, and ate pretty much everything in sight, I had to adapt very quickly to a life of multiple injections every day and monitoring what I ate, what activities I did and try to stick to a strict routine to keep me healthy and alive.  Not easy for any 13 year old! It’s been a bumpy ride. Periods of rebellion, depression and ostrich syndrome sticking my head in the sand... but I’m still here and want to do my bit to help others. Since diagnosis, the medical world has come such a long way and awareness of this sometimes life limiting condition has improved greatly. The work diabetes UK and other diabetes charities has done has been crucial to the medical advances and all round eduction about this condition, for those suffering, those caring for someone with the condition, and the public in general as there are a lot of misconceptions of this quite often invisible disease. Hopefully one day there will be a cure for the millions of newly diagnosed people in the UK and worldwide, and any money raised for the cause will go towards this and making life for diabetics easier. 

Diabetes UK is the charity leading the fight against the most devastating and fastest growing health crisis of our time, creating a world where diabetes can do no harm. Its a fight that involves all of us sharing knowledge and taking diabetes on together.