Alexander Watt
Running the London Marathon to help create a future without type 1 diabetes
Fundraising for JDRF
Story
Juvenile/Type 1 diabetes is an unpreventable, incurable, life-threatening, lifelong, autoimmune disease. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (along with hypothyroidism) at the highly unusual age of 27. Most people are not so lucky. It typically hits children and teenagers and is one of the most chronic childhood diseases.
To stay alive I inject myself with insulin a minimum of 5 times a day and prick my finger to test my blood sugar at least 10 times a day. That’s the easy bit. The difficult bit is judging how much insulin to inject. Too much insulin and one risks a hypo, which is a thoroughly unpleasant, disorientating, regular and scary experience which can lead to unconsciousness and a coma. Too little insulin results in high blood sugars which will lead to diabetic complications, including heart disease, kidney failure, lower limb amputation and blindness.
Diabetes is the biggest cause of blindness in working age people and of lower limb amputations in civilians. The disease never stops, it never has a day off and it never goes away.
I have spent the last 14 months training for this 26 mile marathon. I am not a natural or regular runner. It has taken various appointments with diabetic specialists, doctors, nurses, dieticians and more. It has taken hours of reading, research and tracking to learn how every mile will effect my blood sugar. Don’t expect any great time, I cannot run for more than 20 minutes without checking my blood sugar and I must take in glucose every kilometre to avoid a hypo. The goal is just to complete without needing medical intervention.
It's probably too late for a cure for my Dad, my brother, my sister-in-law and me but it's not too late for our future generations. Thank you for all your support!