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I think it was late October 1990 that I was sent home from School with a 'Bug'.  I was 13 years old.  Both my Mum, and my School Nurse thought I was simply coming down with the Flu or a Sickness Bug.  I remember clearly the feeling of tiredness and an incurable thirst that got worse with each day that passed, not to mention the frequent visits to the toilet to urinate.  That very same weekend I drank 7 litres of Juice in the space of an hour. What topped this off was that my mouth was so dry I couldn't even lick a postage stamp to put on an envelope.  Luckily for me, my Granny had witnessed this sort of behaviour and symptoms before with 1 of her nieces and suggested that we call the Doctor.

As this was a Saturday he made a house call and the 1st thing he did was prick my finger to check my Blood Sugar level.  In those days there were no fancy machines that gave you an exact reading.  The blood sample was placed onto a Test Strip and had to remain there for 1 minute before being wiped off.  After this, the strip had to sit for a further minute for the colours to settle.  When this time had passed the Doctor held the test strip up against the colour chart on the side of the plastic container.  The reading was somewhere between 28 and 44 m/mols. (The 'norm' is anything between 4 and 7 m/mols).

At this point the Doctor asked me if I could provide him with a Urine Sample so that he could perform another test.  (This was no problem as I had been urinating up to 3 times per hour for the past week, or even longer than that actually!!)  Once this test was completed the results showed a large amount of Ketones present and I, along with my Mum and grandparents, was told I would have to be admitted to Hospital.

On arrival at the Hospital, I was met by a Consultant who informed me that I had Type 1 Diabetes and would be on multiple Insulin Injections every day for the rest of my life and that the current life expectancy for me would me between 25 and 30 years old.  I was told I'd have to learn how to count the Carbohydrate content of anything I ate and had to match this to the amount of Insulin that I was taking.  However, times changed, I went from 2 Injections of Pork Insulin per day onto 2 Injections of a new 'Human' insulin that had been discovered and produced.  The same regime of counting Carbohydrates applied.  I was to remain on this regime until I was 21.

After a string of Hypoglycaemic attacks with no warning signs I was put onto Pen Injections and had to take 4 or 5, sometimes 6 injections per day and match my Insulin to my Carbohydrates and therfore turn my whole way of managing my Diabetes round. 

So here I am today.  After years of Hypoglycaeimc attacks, Hyperglycaemic attacks, losing my Hypo awareness and losing my Driving License my Diabetes Consultant put me forward for Insulin Pump therapy.  I'm very pleased to say that I finally got my Insulin Pump in May 2018 and I'm getting to grips with it now.  

I would love to do my part and raise some money to aid in the treatment, research and possible cure for Diabetes.

I finally got some motivation after hearing about some of my fellow Type 1 Diabetic friends who went out and ran London Marathon last year and began my training at the end of April 2018.  Not too much at first (I think I ran for about a minute at a time for the 1st week and complained I was tired and sore to my poor wife).  I am now out running every other day and every Saturday and Sunday and racking up the miles so that I can build myself up to running the Marathon.

As well as running in the London Marathon on 28th April I have also signed up to run in the Inverness Half Marathon on 10th March. This fits in perfect with my Training Plan and I'm looking forward to taking part in a run held in the Highland Capital that I called home for many years...

I've always wanted to achieve something great and when I cross the finish line at London I will be left with a great sense of personal achievement, as well as knowing that I have raised some money for Diabetes UK.

With your help and your sponsorship and donations I will hopefully reach and beat my target...