Mightier than Type One : Our supporter Caroline Held visited the Scottish parliament this week to listen to MSP's talk about t1 diabetes. She just delivered wonderful feedback and I am sharing with permission. "I had a brilliant afternoon at the Scottish parliament on Tuesday and I'm really glad I went along. For those T1 families interested here is a brief of how the debate went. It was a Motion so not a debate as such, more of a raising awareness. Considering it took place at 5pm and there were a lot of receptions going on in the building, I was pleased with the 24 MSPs who stayed and all parties were represented. JDRF and DUK had provided them with excellent briefings. - All MSPs who spoke understood the condition and spoke with empathy of the impact it had on those living with it. They all commended JDRF and the T1 community in Scotland for their commitment to fundraising and campaigning. Nearly all mentioned how impressed they were by how engaged the T1 children in Scotland are. All welcomed the £10m extra funding for increased access to pumps and cgms. All praised the world leading Scottish bio reserve bank which holds blood and DNA samples from 6100 T1 and can be used for research purposes. All praised the Scottish Care Information diabetes system that was commissioned and funded by the Scottish government and described as the "envy across the globe". This electronic database tracks patient data in real time and allows patients to manage their health care online as well allowing researchers unparalled levels of information. JDRF describe this as "the jewel in the crown of our arsenal against T1". All spoke of the research taking place at our Universities funded by JDRF, in particular the one at Dundee which is the largest study into prevention in Europe. All were united in safeguarding existing funding and calling for more to ensure Scotland remains a front runner in the global race for the cure. Clare Adamson MSP opened her Motion by hoping to raise awareness of the condition. She spoke of how Scotland has the 3rd highest incidence of T1 in the world. She spoke of families frustrations with being confused with T2 and our upset with Food Standards Scotland. She has met with their Chair and CEO and feels our concerns have been taken on board. (She told me afterwards that they FSS are now conducting an internal enquiry about the campaign.) Alex Rowley MSP spoke of reducing red tape to help those in research. He said other Scandinavian countries with a high rate of T1 in children were willing to co-ordinate research and work together to find out why, and work together in prevention. Miles Briggs MSP spoke of his concern that T1 was not receiving as good a level of care as T2 in Scotland. He called for T1 not to be forgotten in the push to prevent T2. Graeme Day MSP spoke of constituents who lost their daughter to undiagnosed T1, and the importance of raising awareness. David Stewart MSP spoke of the discovery of insulin and the role played by McLeod. He passionately called for Scotland to once again lead the way and push forward for the next giant leap in T1 research. He told of the Highland Diabetes Institute where companies that manufacture our meters and tests strips are also linking with researchers to work on new advances. Emma Harper MSP (and T1 herself) spoke of long term complications but called for recognition of the day to day struggle that is "daily sometimes hourly". An ex nurse, she highlighted to the parliament with passion the strain on parents like us who have to test their child's blood throughout the night and made a special commitment to advocating for the children. She demonstrated her own Libre, and spoke hopefully about future advancements. Brian Whittle MSP told of his friend who's 4 year old had the condition and how hard it was for the parent who had to inject their child several times a day, the parent giving themselves a placebo injection in a show of solidarity. He called for an end to the postcode lottery of pumps and cgms, and that more needs to be done to make lives easier for those with the condition. He suggested a redirection of funds made from savings by preventing other conditions into research for incurable ones such as T1. Anas Sarwar MSP also spoke of the need for more public awareness to avoid confusion with T2. He told of how he employed someone with T1 and the need to educate employers, and those in education so that they may understand the impact the condition has so they may help those with T1 in a "more meaningful way". Aileen Campbell (Minister) concluded by stating the parliaments continued commitment into raising awareness and research into cause, improving treatment and ultimately the cure we all want. All in all, those who were there left feeling uplifted, inspired and hopeful for the future. The Scottish TV news reported that evening with accuracy on T1, and researchers spoke of "an unusually engaged and active T1 population in Scotland". I know some of you have been down recently and I hope this post makes you feel a bit better, friends in the rest of the UK and across the globe rest assured that Scotland is doing it's bit! 💙💪💙"