Diabetes Awareness Month

   I didn't know about this until the other day, but as something that is very close to my heart, I thought I should write a post about my own personal experiences.
   I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes a month before my third birthday. Normally Type 1 is genetic, however I am the first in my family to have it, so it was a bit of a shock to everyone. Having been diagnosed so young I've grown up not remembering life without it at all, which I believe has benefited me compared to people who are diagnosed later on, as they've grown up being able to eat and drink what they want without having to worry about counting their carbohydrates and injecting themselves with insulin accordingly. Similarly, not being able to remember life without it means that I just get on with it, there's nothing I can do to change it, and even if I was given the opportunity to do so I know that I wouldn't take it.
   I was bullied for being diabetic for the majority of my childhood, particularly when I got to secondary school. I was classed as "disgusting" for having to inject myself purely so that I can live. It got to the stage where I used to have my injections in the toilets so that no one would see me take them, despite the fact I can't help having to do them and people really should just learn to deal with it. Due to the bullying, I found it very hard to find friends who were willing to accept me into their friendship groups. For some absurd reason they seemed to think that as they had a phobia of needles I would inject them if ever we argued! Therefore I found it very hard to settle in and make friends, despite the fact I really can't help the fact that my pancreas just ceased working when I was younger.
  However, diabetes hasn't affected my life in as many ways as people seem to assume that it does. For example, I look like a completely normal person and I am a completely normal person, I just have one organ in my body that doesn't work, it doesn't make me an alien! I can eat the same foods as everybody else, I just can't have foods high in sugar very often, and I need to count the carbohydrates in foods so that I can ensure I have the right amount of insulin. I can still drink on nights out, I just need to make sure I have a carbohydrate based meal when I'm back to absorb the sugar in the alcohol. I can still have a normal job like everybody else, I'm just not allowed to be a pilot, bus driver, taxi driver or ferry driver, as I can't risk having a hypo and putting other people's lives at risk. I am still allowed to drive a car, I just have to take blood tests before I go anywhere, and be reassessed every three years due to potential diabetes related problems with circulation and eyesight which may affect how I drive. However, as long as I maintain good control of my diabetes, which I do, I shouldn't have any problems. Basically, I'm exactly the same as everybody else and I can lead a normal life like everybody else, I just have a few extra safety precautions.
   As I've got older I've become more willing to help families whose children have been diagnosed. Being diagnosed so young put my parents under a lot of pressure, as you can't expect a three year old to inject themselves. So my parents had to learn how to handle and cope with the injections, blood tests, carbohydrate counting, hypos and hypers. This in turn allowed them to teach me, meaning by the age of 9 I could do it by myself and was almost completely self-reliant. Helping other families and young people cope with it all gives me a massive sense of satisfaction, as I'm living proof it's not the be all and end all!
   When I was 13 years old I was incredibly lucky to be chosen to represent Kettering constituency at Diabetes UK Childrens' Lobby of Parliament for the Second Reading debate of the Schools (Health Support) Bill in London in April 2009 to raise awareness of diabetes in schools, as in schools all over the country it wasn't properly recognised and supported by staff. As a result of this Bill things have improved a lot since then. I went to London for the day and met with our MP, Philip Hollobone, to talk about diabetes and how it had affected me. I'm fortunate in that my school and surrounding schools in Kettering were aware of diabetes, but other children and families at the event were being treated appallingly and really needed to fight to change things. I had a really lovely afternoon being shown round the House of Commons and the House of Lords and was treated to free cake, I think he may have forgotten I was diabetic by this point...
   Basically, the whole point of this post is to say, yes, I have diabetes, but it doesn't really make me any different from the rest of you, because I can still do exactly the same things as you, I just have to take it into consideration and keep an eye on myself. We're not "disgusting" for having to inject ourselves at all, it's what we have to do to live, and it's human instinct to survive. We're the ones who have to live with it, not you, please remember that.