Thank you for giving my JustGiving page your kind attention. I hope I can persuade you of the important positive difference DiabetesUK makes to the lives of those, and the families of those, with Diabetes.

15 years ago, in October 1999, as a 36 year old family man with 2 young children, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

Over the preceding few months I had been feeling, and looking, more and more unwell. I had gradually lost a lot of weight, felt an unusual craving for sweet food stuffs and developed a thirst that would not be quenched – no matter how much I drank. I was seriously worried I was suffering from something sinister and incurable that was going to be the end of me.

I eventually plucked up the nerve to see my GP and within 24 hours I had been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Although this wasn’t good news there was some relief in that I knew why I was unwell and that I had something that was treatable.

My GP pointed out that I did have my age (36) and the age (1999) on my side. Most often people are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when they are very young (babies even) and the impact on them and their families is profoundly life changing - from day one.

By the end of the last century our knowledge and understanding of how to treat Diabetes had improved exponentially.  As testament to this, within 48 hours of being diagnosed I had been given a full set of tools to combat my illness, a lesson in how to use them and a full programme of ongoing care with my local NHS clinic. Within a few weeks I had begun to feel a whole lot better.

• Thanks to DiabetesUK I don’t have to pay for my prescriptions

• Thanks to DiabetesUK, research and development has been ongoing in laboratories for many decades, continuing to help improve our chances of living good long lives immeasurably

• DiabetesUK funds the research and development needed to keep us heading towards that ultimate goal of CURE!

That’s why I want to walk across the bridges of London this November.

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.

What It Is

Insulin is a hormone common to all humans and other animals. Its function is to convert carbohydrates (sugars) into energy. If your Islet of Langerhans (a specific area of the pancreas) has stopped producing any insulin you have Type 1 Diabetes; if it is still producing a little or some of its insulin, you have Type 2 Diabetes.

The treatment for most of us with Type 1 is daily blood tests followed by injections of animal insulin. This process might best be summarised as trying to calculate an equivalent amount of animal insulin as would naturally be produced by somebody whose pancreas is functioning normally. Poor control of diabetes can lead to very serious long term complications including blindness and limb amputation to name but 2 of the more serious ones. This is why we take our condition so seriously, please read on if you want to know…

What It’s Like

As anyone with diabetes will tell you, the everyday ongoing treatment you have to self-deliver can be a royal pain in the rump. It will generally consist of a finger-prick blood test before each meal/snack of the day (this means at least 4 but can be as many as 6 times a day); the result of the test will determine the amount of insulin to be taken with the meal – although this will also depend on the amount of carbohydrate in the meal. Then there is the injection of insulin itself with each meal/snack of the day (again this is at least 4 times a day plus any other corrective doses and a further injection to administer a separate background dose (or 2) and this is every day - without exception. There is NO LET UP. And then you’d better hope you don’t go hypo…Just trying to attain and then maintain a healthy blood glucose level could accurately be described as an arduous task. In fact, there are so many mitigating factors in the management of insulin dependent diabetes, I take my hat off to those who have achieved and maintained an excellent level of control; I am still struggling to get there – 15 years later.