A diabetic’s natural state is that they are dying. But are manually, actively, 24/7 keeping themselves alive.

Without insulin, a Type 1 diabetic wouldn’t live.

Back in 2004, 3-year-old me was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after experiencing the four T's (toilet, thirst, thinner, tired). When I was five, I experienced a diabetic fit, which is where you enter into a diabetic coma because you have no glucose in your body. Between the ages of 5 and 11, the realisations that diabetes would never be going away became real. I started having the sense of embarrassment and loneliness of having this condition.

When I started secondary school, to put it simply, I hated living with diabetes. Week by week, I gradually stopped injecting my short-acting insulin (I also take long-acting) and testing my bloods, with this carrying on for a couple of years. To match this, I started eating sweets and junk food every day after school and hiding it in a bin bag under my bed because this gave me a sense of 'normality'. I went silent about my diabetes. This all led to my experience with diabulimia. I would sit and cry in the appointments because I couldn't bring myself to admit I didn't want to live with diabetes anymore. Skip to 14, my bloods were even higher than before - being 4x times the normal level. My health had declined that badly that I was told I would never achieve higher than a C at school. Never get a full-time job. That I would be lucky to live beyond 30. Throughout this all, I never once improved because I didn't want to be the only kid at school who had to inject multiple times a day, just so they could keep themselves alive.

Skip to now, I have a better, healthier look on my diabetes. I appreciate life a lot more now. I love living life realising I'm not defined by my diabetes. It is just a part of me, not the whole of me. I know I must inject for the rest of my life and think about it, and there will always be moments where I hate diabetes. But I'm comfortable with diabetes. I will have my down days, and I will have my good days. As weird as it is to say, I couldn't imagine my life without diabetes. In a way I'm thankful because it has taught me more lessons than anything else will.

With insulin and medical care, diabetics can live a healthy and happy long life. But the financials needed to support is vital. Which is why I’m running the Amsterdam Marathon for Diabetes UK. To raise more funds needed to support those with all forms of diabetes. To show even more why Diabetes needs to be taken seriously in a world that thinks just because we are “normal”, we are fine. I may be able to do everything a non-diabetic can do, but once you actually ask questions and learn about the condition, you’ll realise how tough this chronic illness can actually be.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Soph xxx