Diabetes is something that runs in my family on my fathers side. My dad was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in his early fourties and during my childhood I saw his list of pills and terrible eating habits which to be honest, was just a normal way of life. Tata (Dad in Croatian) continued to have a poor diet living by his life moto of ‘life is too short not to eat the things that make you happy ’ which resulted in him moving from his pills to insulin almost 30 years later. (Please don’t ever question him on this as he would probably tell you it was worth every dessert.)

On Holiday in November while visiting me In the UK my fathers sugar dropped down to 1.5 (between 4 & 6 is normal) in his sleep. The paramedics told us if we hadn’t of all been sharing a room he wouldn’t have woken up. This has been something I have thought about a lot in the last few months. To add insult to injury, I received a call from my mother 5 days after the incident, to let me know that someone extremely dear to me, who is 14, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (yes November 2019 was a really crap month.) Unlike tata, who at the age of 40 needed to make some minor dietary adjustments, my little buddy needed to completely change her life around. She spent two weeks in hospital learning how to control her sugar levels, understanding what she could and couldn’t eat, learning how to weigh to her carbs, learning how to exercise and how to carry on through life not being tempted by the evils that we enjoy everyday and take for granted.

All this got me thinking … I really want to help. But how? As common as diabetes is in todays society, it is the young people that really struggle to adjust to their new way of life. The Zagreb Diabetes Association (ZDD) is a non-profit organization whose goal is to bring together as many people with diabetes as possible, and provide them with activities through which they can achieve treatment goals and be satisfied with their own success.

So I am asking you for a donation. With every pound donated you will be encouraging me to run a half marathon and supporting a community for young people with diabetes in Croatia. Sounds easy right? Well if you have known me long enough you know I ran a marathon two years ago (I plastered it all over the internet!!!) but you wouldn’t know that I hadn’t ran since. I’ve been truly inspired by my tata and my little friend to get up and keep trying even when I am feeling lazy or when the weather is awful (which is pretty common in London.) So for all the young kids that need to think twice about eating chocolate or cake I am doing this for you.

The run is in three weeks (22nd March 2020) and I hope that you can spare me anything from £2 pounds onwards. If you can’t I hope you keep your fingers crossed and that I can hear you cheering me on all the way in Zagreb!

P.S if anyone would like to know more about the charity please find a link below;

https://www.zadi.hr/o-drustvu/

(you may need to google translate)