Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

To mark having Type 1 Diabetes for 40 years this year, I wanted to do something to help other people with the condition, and I've decided to do something related to activity.  Coping with diabetes when you're doing anything active is often difficult, because there are so many factors to take into account, like whether to change your insulin dose, how much your blood sugars will be affected by the exercise, how much carbohydrate you need to eat before and during the exercise.  

However, technology has improved hugely over the years since I was diagnosed (then, I was given a glass syringe and metal needle I had to boil to sterilise and re-use, whereas now I use an insulin pump and wear a continuous glucose monitor), and some devices especially can really help with managing diabetes when doing activities. Learning what to change, how much and when, is still tricky though, and the fear of mistakes often puts people off trying.

So, over the summer, I'm going to show that you can enjoy outdoor activities and explain how I control my insulin and carbohydrate intake, to encourage other people to have a go.  I'm going to do this by riding about 500 miles in total, on separate day rides around Scotland over the next few months.  I'll put updates on here to show which rides I've done with some information on how each one goes.

However, I'm also looking to raise some money, to help my local Diabetes team at NHS Highland buy some glucose monitors for people to borrow.  That way, they can see in real time what's happening with their blood sugars, and hopefully will feel more confident having a go at enjoying activity, whether that's walking the dog, a workout in the gym, cutting the grass, going for a bike ride or something more strenuous like hill walking.

The glucose monitors are expensive, with a starter kit costing £160 and sensors lasting 2 weeks being £58 each.  I'd like to enable the Diabetes team to buy maybe 5 starter kits and two spare sensors per kit, so I'm looking to raise £1400 for this, but the more you donate, the more kits and sensors they'll be able to buy, so please be as generous as you can.  There's no budget within the diabetes team to buy these devices from NHS funds, so they won't get them any other way.

Here's a link to the website for the glucose monitors

http://www.freestylelibre.co.uk/freestyle-libre-starter-pack-english.html

Also, JDRF have just put up inform for people with Type 1 Diabetes on how to avoid hypos when exercising - see here:-

https://jdrf.org.uk/news/fear-hypos-stops-many-people-type-1-exercise/