In January 2013 our lives were turned upside down when Lewis, my amazing,bright, funny 9 year old son (now 10) was rushed into hospital with symptoms of diabetes. After under going tests, it was confirmed that Lewis was Type 1 diabetic. This was nobodies fault. Lewis had caught a virus which triggered his body to attack his pancreas.

Trying to tell a very frightened 9 year old that his life was now going to be controlled by 4 injections a day, endless BMs ( Blood monitoring) and that his diet would have to change, that he wouldn't be able to eat sweets like all of his friends anymore was really difficult. Over the coming days we went through all the emotions you could possibly think of. Lewis was convinced he was going to die. I will never forget the look of fear in Lewis's eyes, it was heartbreaking. 

Everything had changed. The first time Julie and I went shopping was awful. Standing, examining the sugar and carb contents of everything we bought was a very distressing.

Over the coming weeks, Lewis grew in confidence,injecting his insulin himself and slowly coming to terms with his Diabetes. Every time we go out, we have to carry supplies of carbs and sweets, a testing kit, and insulin just incase Lewis's blood sugars drop and he has a hypo. Even the slightest illness like a throat infection or a cold have massive implications now. These have caused Lewis's blood sugars and keystones to rise to dangerously high levels and resulted in trips to hospital in the middle of the night.

We've just had our 1st Christmas since Lewis was diagnosed with diabetes. Sweets and biscuits that were given as presents have to be hidden as temptation still gets the better of Lewis sometimes, but in general he's really good. We even managed a trip to hospital at 10pm on New Year's Eve as Lewis had developed a slight infection. 

It's been a tough year, Julie has found it incredibly hard. Friends seem to give us a wide berth because we've had to change our life styles to fit around Lewis's diabetes. As a family though, we remain positive for the future, and are determined that Lewis will lead as normal a life as his friends.

Both myself and Julie have decided to run the 2014 Bupa Great North Run to raise money for the research into hopefully finding a cure for this horrible disease, and also the development of new technologies to reduce the number of injections diabetics have to endure. Imagine, taking a pill, or even better finding a cure for diabetes. By raising money hopefully this one day will become possible, then no more parents will have to look in to their frightened child's eyes and try to reassure them that everything will be ok knowing that this might not be the case.

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