When  I was 10 weeks pregnant I went to the hospital with my good friend Louisa and at the scan they informed me that there was no heart beat. I have been told these awful words 10 times before, I was no stranger to this, as this was my 14th pregnancy. This said one can never prepare one-self with this impactful news.

I was overcome with grief and devastated but with unfaltering support from good friends and family around me I came to terms with the cards I was dealt with. The date for my planned evacuation came but before I went through  with it I went to see my friend Walter Van Harmelen  a gynaecologist and asked for a scan picture to keep. To compound this,  whilst I was in the waiting room my sister called me crying and said that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I felt total despair for everything that was important to me I felt like it was  all slipping away. Life has an uncanny way of lulling one into a false sense of security and then as quickly pull the rug from under ones feet.

I explained to Walter that I just wanted a picture of the foetus for keep sake. When he scanned me he declared in a somewhat nonchalant manner "the baby is moving around alot" obviously assuming that the scan performed at another hospital by another surgeon had diagnosed the same and this was merely about affirmation.  When I looked at the scan I could hardly believe my eyes and actually thought my eyes were playing tricks with me,  he was sucking his thumb. I went from total devastation to complete overwhelming joy in the blink of an eye.

The next few months flew by with a very easy pregnancy and with trips backwards and forwards from Spain to the UK to see my sister and support her as much as I could. She was so happy for me and asked if I had a boy please could one of the names be Sebastian.

Our little bundle of joy and much longed for addition to the family was born effortlessly on the 6th July 2011 we named him Gabriel Sebastian James Broadhead.  Our forth baby, another son for Mark and myself, a brother for Dylan George Ellis , Hannah-Florence Lucy and Grace-Elisabeth Rose.

Gabriel was a fantastic baby, fitting in with his older siblings life. Sleeping through the night achieving milestones in text book style.

In October 2013 all of our life's changed. He was getting tired, a bit grumpy,,, I would say never mind it is only the terrible two's but in my heart I knew something was not quite right. He lost alot of weight (5kg in total) and with that also had excessive thirst.  I took Gabriel to the doctor who tested his blood and told me to go immediately to the hospital and he will notify them that we are coming.

When we got to the hospital we were seen straight away. The staff at Salisbury hospital were absolutely brilliant and they did not leave our side for a minute. Within minutes which seemed like an eternity he was diagnosed with Ketoacidosis. This is a severe life threatening condition requiring immediate treatment. In a split second Gabriel was attached to machines and numerous drips, there were countless medical personnel buzzing around us like bees in a hive. I could not believe what was happening, he was a happy little boy riding a bike only 3 hours before this devastating news. This is how quickly life can change.

 

That was 3 months ago Gabriel is still a smiley happy chappy, very active and as cute as a button but with a life threatening condition which requires him to have injections 4X daily, everyday for the rest of his life and 8-10 finger pricks test to check his glucose levels. Life is now a constant carb counting , testing, needles, hypos & hypers. You cannot  afford to let your guard down for a split second.

The Coach House day nursery in Gorley have been a god send,  they knew Gabriel pre-diabetes and despite his recently diagnosed condition and the heavy reliance on care,  he is now back with all of his friends. The staff have been fantastic . Three members have been taught how to inject and test his bloods. Despite only being a few months in, they have already had to contend with  Hypers &  Hypos and even had to result to calling out an ambulance but despite all of this they treat him exactly the same. He always gets his stickers and extra cuddles after having his injections administered.

This rather appropriately brings me to appraise you of my current journey. I am currently in training for the London Marathon with an ultimate aim of raising needed funds for Diabetes UK a cause I am passionately committed to. The money that I hope to raise with your support will be allocated to help improve the lives of 3 million people with diabetes in the UK and work towards finding a cure for this condition.

I would like to personally thank you in advance for assisting me in reaching my target and would also like to extend a big thanks to Mark, Dylan, Hannah-Florence, Grace-Elizabeth , Rhea & George Mangar, Nadine Cobley. It is through the close family that we have a firm foundation in Gabriel's life to make him feel special and not different.

Although we have been presented with new fresh challenges Gabriel's constant smile and demeanour and angelic qualities make the running and training I need to do to achieve this all worthwhile.