Our son Maceo was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last year after we noticed the symptoms of increased thirst, hunger and trips to the toilet. Type 1 is caused by a non-reversible autoimmune process that kills off the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. There is no prevention or cure at the moment. He has adapted outstandingly to a life of pricking his fingers to test his blood glucose nearly every 2 hours throughout the day, and injecting himself with calculated doses of insulin 4 times a day. 

During the swim he will have to test his blood glucose levels every 30 minutes and eat carbohydrate snacks or take glucose to sustain his levels. He may need to rest and retest if high or low.

We want people to know the seriousness of Type 1 & whilst it is difficult to consider, constant monitoring and maintaining appropriate blood glucose levels is vital to prevent complications such as kidney and heart disease or sadly coma, fitting & possibly death.

Diabetes UK have supported our family from the beginning of our journey with Type 1 through giving factual information, emotional support, schools advice and providing us with chances to meet other families to ensure that he has the best opportunities to live a happy and healthy life reaching his full potential and beyond...   

He wanted us to do this swim. We have from 22nd Feb-22nd May to complete the challenge as a family & plan to do this by swimming twice a week. Maceo currently swims 500m/20 lengths & says that he will  increase the distance he swims each time aiming to achieve 1 mile/64 lengths!    

 Please support us to help others.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

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.