Travis was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in November 2021 aged only 4 years old.

Having just started primary school, our usual happy and chilled little boy who is always so sweet and calm, became challenging. We started to see awful tantrums, frustration and sleepless nights. Naturally, we put this down to his huge life change with starting school.

Little did we know, there was a much more serious issue at play that would turn our world upside down. And he couldn’t tell us.

Next came the thirst. Unquenchable thirst. Which in turn, created increased trips to the toilet. Getting himself up several times in the night to go to the toilet and putting himself back to bed. Something wasn’t right.

Finally, seeing our precious boy slump to the floor with no energy was terrifying.

Then a whole new education began. For him and for us. To learn how to live with Type 1.

As anybody living with it knows, it is completely all-encompassing. Everything can affect blood sugar levels—weather, altitude, activity, minor illnesses or infections, emotions and stress, growing, sleep and of course every crumb of food that enters their mouths. There’s no break from it— ever, not even when you sleep.

On average, Travis would need 10 injections a day. That’s 70 injections a week. 280 injections a month. Approximately 3,360 injections a year. In our child's delicate, perfect little body.

Blood glucose levels should stay between 4-10 'mmol/l' and anything above 14 begins to cause damage to organs and cells. Blood sugar below 4 can potentially cause a seizure. If you want any chance at avoiding complications from diabetes, you need to be on top of your blood sugars 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Normal things we once took for granted, such as going for a walk, going to bed, eating anything at all, now comes with a barrage of decisions and calculations followed by injections and follow-up checks.

This photo is an absolute ray of sunshine. 

Happy. Healthy. Thriving.

The Paediatric Type 1 Diabetes Team at Southampton put us in touch with another family who had a little boy also recently diagnosed with Type 1. Through this incredibly thick fog, came a silver lining. New friendships bloomed between our families and we realised we weren’t so alone. And more important, neither were our children.

We suddenly had this connection that eased the emotional and mental burden, and offered support and understanding on a different level, that’s become so incredibly valuable. We’re endlessly grateful for this.