Thank you for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page - it means a lot to us as a Family.

In February half term this year, shortly after his eighth birthday, Eddie was admitted to the Royal Surrey County Hospital where he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. We’d been worried about him for a while as he'd he been unwell and lost a lot of weight. The diagnosis was a horrible shock to the whole family and we immediately tried to work out 'why' 'what' 'when' and 'how'.  The care we received that week from the paediatric diabetes team was incredible. We found ourselves on a steep learning curve attempting to process how this autoimmune disease affects the body, test blood glucose levels through finger pricks and, learning how to deal with often scary 'Hypos and Hypers'. We were taught how to give Eddie multiple daily insulin injections (practicing on Brian the Satsuma!).  Once home from hospital we had to determine how to fit this care into Eddie's incredibly active life and we began the 24/7 juggle of managing exercise, food, stress, medication, technology and BG levels. 

Eddie has been through so much over the past two months. His first question whilst in A&E was 'Mummy, how long will I have this for?' The realisation that this condition wouldn't go away like a cold or chicken pox was something hard to break to him. He has amazed us with his bravery, pragmatism and strength whilst having an average of five insulin injections every day and has become a pro at doing his own finger pricks, often at the side of the athletics track, football pitch, every few hours at school, in cafes, in the car and even at birthday parties... 

The Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation (DRWF) was one of the first online resources we found to educate ourselves on the practicalities of T1D. Their mission of 'Staying well until a cure is found' resonates as this is how we choose to support Eddie is his day-to-day life.  We are committed to making sure that T1D won’t ever stop him from being involved in anything he wants to be part of. We not only support but want to be involved in future research and development that strives to find a cure and before that, the more seamless management of diabetes.

Eddie is passionate about athletics and being active. He was so keen to get back to his track sessions at the Young Athletes Club after coming out of hospital that I stood trackside with him in the dark, in the rain, throwing jelly babies in his mouth every time he ran past me. After 18 minutes of that first session back we had to come off as he had a 'Hypo' where his blood glucose fell to a dangerously low level and he was shaky and disorientated.  He cried, I cried, frustrated at how unfair 'stupid diabetes' was. With help from his team at the hospital, some more tweaks to his diet, inspiration from Henry Slade (England Rugby player, also T1D) he came back the following week stronger and more determined than ever not to let T1D stop him. 

Over the next five months we are on a family mission to raise funds for DRWF! Some of the things we are planning are:

-Eddie will be running a 5k

-Emily (who has new trainers at the ready!!!) will be running a 2k

- Ollie will be running a 10k! (might even buy some new trainers without holes in!)

- I will be running the London Marathon on 2 October

- I will be donating all proceeds from forthcoming Yoga and Cake evenings in Guildford

- Car Wash

- Cake Sale 

If you'd like to support us with or sponsor us for any of our endeavours, we would be extremely grateful. A great big Thank You to everyone in advance! xxx  

You can follow us for updates, details and watch us as we navigate our first few months of learning to live with T1D on Instagram: @boots_on_running_for_diabetes