Arianwen Morris

Support Kids With Type 1 Diabetes

On 7 June this year, myself, Matt, our son Osian (3) and our daughter Deryn (1) will be joining lots of other Bristol families on a 5 km walk to raise money to fund life-changing reasearch on type 1 diabetes (T1D) through the charity Breakthrough T1D. That's quite a distance for the little ones, but to challenge myself some more, I've decided to also attempt to run 400 km between now and then.

In December last year our lives were turned upside down when we found out Osian has T1D. This is a chronic autoimmune condition. Not to be confused with T2D, which is linked to lifestyle, T1D is hereditary and unpreventable. Osian's own immune system mistakenly identifies his own beta cells as foreign bodies and destroys them. Healthy beta cells produce insulin, which is needed to enable the body to make use of glucose for energy and growth. If glucose can't enter cells, it builds up in the bloodstream, causing damage throughout the body. Osian is currently in a so-called 'honeymoon period' during which he still produces some of his own insulin, but over the coming months he will become completely reliant on synthetic insulin to survive.

It was a huge undertaking to learn how to manage Osian's condition. It requires us to calculate the carb intake of all of his food and to inject him with the correct volume of insulin four or five times a day. He has to wear a sensor to continuously monitor his glucose levels and needs to have his finger pricked regularly to confirm that the monitor values are correct.

If he goes too low (a hypo), he's at risk of a seizure, coma or even death. If he goes too high (a hyper) he's at risk of life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis. When he has any type of illness, he has to have his finger pricked every 2 hours day and night to check for ketone levels.

In addition to the day-to-day concerns, there are many long-term complications. Spending any time out of the range of a person who doesn't have diabetes (which is inevitable because so many factors affect his levels) increases his long-term risks of kidney failure, blindness, limb amputation, heart disease, stroke and learning/developmental delays (to name a few), not to mention the mental strain of constantly managing his glucose levels and the extra effort required to ensure that even every-day simple tasks can be undertaken safely.

Osian, Matt and I are regularly woken in the night by a loud alert requiring us to act quickly to prevent his levels dropping dangerously low. It's both mentally and phsyically exhausting. Osian isn't old enough to fully understand the implications, but he's had to be very brave to endure all of the needles, not to mention the unavoidable stress and restrictions around food.

Despite all of this, we're comforted in the knowledge that diabetes is a disease with rapid advancements in research. It has only been a little over 100 years since the first dose of synthetic insulin was administered (before then, T1D was a death sentence). Glucose monitors and insulin pumps have helped to increase the quality of life of millions of people with the disease, but there is still a requirement for burdensome human input in its management, and the long-term risks are still considerable. Most importantly, there is no prevention or cure for T1D.

Breakthrough T1D funds world-class research, supports the T1D community and campaigns for broader NHS provision of treatments and technologies.

This is where you come in. With your support and your generous donations, we can fund Breakthrough T1D’s important work and help ease the burden and potentially even cure this unforgiving disease.

Just £20 could help towards the next big T1D breakthrough. 

Whatever you can donate, it is really appreciated. Thank you!