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My son Evan was eleven years old when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on the fourteenth of November 2019.

I had been aware for a few weeks that he was drinking more than usual and also seemed to be thinner and tired. Being a busy 11 year old it was easy to make excuses for these symptoms.  During his birthday celebrations 2 weeks before diagnosis he became very agitated and was also physically sick which we put down to Birthday over indulgence. Things just didn't seem right and after a visit to my GP and a quick blood sugar test our fears that it could be type 1 diabetes were all but confirmed. I had to take Evan on the 3 hour trip to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness where we spent 5 days away from home learning our new normal. 

It was really hard and we as a family had no idea what it meant to have type 1 diabetes and what effect it would have on us all. Evan was a superstar and very quickly learned how to test his blood and take his insulin injections with no fuss at all. I spent most of the time crying. We had to learn how to count the carbohydrate content in his foods and the dosage of insulin required. We had to understand what it meant to be Hyper or Hypo and what we needed to do in the event of either. We would get up every night at 3 am to check his blood sugars afraid he would fall hypo and we would not know. Type 1 after all is a life threatening condition if not managed correctly. It is a constant 24 hours a day 365 days a year juggling act with no days off.

Controlling Evans condition is made a lot easier due to all the technology that is now available to him. This is only possible because of the great work organisations like JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) do. Hopefully one day they will find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

I am running the London Marathon to raise much needed funds to enable JDRF to carry on their great work. I also hope to raise awareness of what Type 1 is and what it means to people and families living with it.

I know times are hard but anything you can donate however small would be very much appreciated by JDRF and mean an awful lot to Evan, myself and my family. It would also help spur me on as I train for the marathon through the dark, damp, windy Skye winter days.

Thank you