Congratulations to all of the finishers we have had recently, just a heads up, if you are waiting for a medal to be delivered, fear not, they were safely delivered to my house this morning as I stupidly put my address as the delivery address! I will try again tomorrow! ♡♡

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A huge thank you to Lynda Robinson for her very kind donation to Mission: Find a Cure. Every penny helps folks, please consider donating or sponsoring Malaika to walk her 1000km this year or sponsoring me on my 10000km walk and run this year. Every penny donated goes to JDRF to help find a cure for Type One diabetes http://ift.tt/2gFkUGb

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Day 10 273.53/1000 km June goal 3,715.15/10000 km in 2017. Another 2 days because I am not in the habit of posting every day. I will get better! Still time for you to join me, you can take as long as you like to complete one of the challenges, just give it your best shot! http://ift.tt/2gInRkB

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210.87/1000 km June goal 3,652.50/10000 km in 2017. 2 days worth because I have been so exhausted from all the miles that doing maths at the end of the day has not been a priority! I have a niggle in my knee which means I am currently not running, which is sad as i have a half marathon on 2 weeks, but niggle or no I will run, walk or crawl over the finish line Still time for you to join me, you can take as long as you like to complete one of the challenges, just give it your best shot! http://ift.tt/2gInRkB

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10 things people with Type One diabetes hear all too often 1. PEOPLE WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES CAN’T EAT SUGAR – In reality people with type 1 diabetes can eat anything they want, as long as they give themselves enough insulin to cover the sugar or carbs they eat. It must be said though that sugar isn’t really good for anybody and should be eaten in moderation, but I’ll save that rant for another day. 2. TYPE 1 DIABETES IS CAUSED BY BEING OVERWEIGHT Type 1 diabetes is an auto immune disease caused by the body attacking the pancreas. It has nothing to do with weight or diet. 3. ADULTS CAN’T GET TYPE 1 DIABETES While it is more rare for an adult to get type 1, it happens. It can happen at any age. 4. KIDS WILL GROW OUT OF TYPE 1 DIABETES Well meaning friends or family members told me this when my daughter was first diagnosed. “don’t worry, she’ll grow out of it” Sadly that is not the case. She will be insulin dependent for the rest of her life. 5. TYPE 1 DIABETES IS HEREDITARY – This one is complicated. Type 1 diabetes is not hereditary. However, the autoimmune gene that can cause diabetes, as well as a number of other diseases, can be hereditary. 6. YOU GET TYPE 1 DIABETES FROM EATING TOO MUCH SUGAR Nope, nu-uh, no way. As stated in number 2, nothing that you eat will cause type 1 diabetes. Eating too much sugar can cause a tummy ache, but not diabetes. 7. PEOPLE WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES CAN’T PLAY SPORTS Ugh. I hate this one. People with type 1 diabetes can play any sports they want, there are many athletes that have type 1 diabetes such as Sir Steve Redgrave 8. THE INSULIN PUMP CURES TYPE 1 DIABETES Well meaning friend or stranger: “Isn’t she on a pump?” Me: “Yes, but…” Friend/Stranger: “Well then she is cured, right?” Nope. Not even close. The pump is an amazing piece of equipment that has made our life so much easier, but it hasn’t cured her diabetes, it will never cure her diabetes. She will always need insulin, the pump just makes delivery of that insulin easier and more accurate. 9. TYPE 1 DIABETES CAN BE CURED WITH DIET AND EXERCISE I blame Halle Berry for this one. Halle Berry was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1989. In 2007, she claimed in an interview that she had weaned herself off insulin after changing her diet, pretty much curing her diabetes. Um, what? That is not physically possible, it’s a death sentence to stop insulin if you have type 1 diabetes. The fact is that Ms. Berry was possibly misdiagnosed and had type 2 diabetes all along. There is no cure for type 1 diabetes. 10. AT LEAST ITS NOT SERIOUS LIKE CANCER I have no words. Help us find a cure for Type one diabetes. http://ift.tt/2gFkUGb

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On Instagram today, the hashtag #diabetes was high on the list of trending tags. With it being Easter, there were a lot of Easter egg posts and i just wanted to remind people of this Diabetes isn't that Easter Egg, large piece of birthday cake, or that super sized McDonald's meal with extra fries, or anything you see coated with sugar. Diabetes is an 18 year old girl sitting on her bathroom floor shaking and not able to breathe because her blood sugar dropped and praying her Mums phone is near her and she got the text message to bring some sugar since she's too weak to yell and the whole room is spinning. It's a 9 year old boy who is trying to play outside with his friends and ends up being carted away in an ambulance because he went unconscious when he didn't feel his sugar slipping. It's a 32 year old girl who FINALLY got the news that she's pregnant and going to have the family she's always wanted, but instead of celebrating like she should be she's worried to death that her blood sugars won't stay in range with all of the hormones and that it's going to kill her baby before she gets to meet it... and maybe even her. It's a 3 year old who doesn't understand why her Mummy has to stab her with a syringe every single time she eats, but not her sister. It's a 4 year old girl that I read about recently who lost her life because a doctor misdiagnosed her diabetes as the flu and she ended up a victim of diabetic ketoacidoses, where your blood literally turns acidic from the lack of insulin in your body and attacks your organs. Diabetes is your mother, your neighbour, your cousin. Diabetes isn't the morbidly obese man you see on tv. It isn't something people ask for or give themselves. It's a disease that isn't picky when it chooses who to attack, it doesn't care if you're 2 months old or if you're 73. It doesn't care if you eat Big Macs and fries every day of your life or if you're a strict vegan who goes to the gym daily. Diabetes is me. Diabetes is a bunch of people who fight for their life every single day and go to bed not sure if they're going to wake up the next morning. So before you tag your huge dessert #Diabetes, think about what #Diabetes really looks like.

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Week 14 leaderboards. 100% of money raised donated to JDRF to find a cure for Type One diabetes Sign up here http://ift.tt/2gInRkB

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#SuperheroShoutout Finn’s Story "He’s a typical 3 year old!” everyone said. “It’s normal behaviour, don’t worry!”, they said. Was it? I didn’t quite believe what people were saying to me, I thought it was one of those things they said to try and stop mums worrying. I went with the majority verdict and got on with family life. The 3 year old? Our little boy, Finn. Finn was going through some severe mood swings, uncontrollable tempers where he would scream as though he was in pain. All apparently ‘normal’ according to the professionals. The tempers gradually became worse. He started wetting himself at bedtime and was getting infection after infection. Looking back he was probably a very poorly 3 year old, not a typical one. Finn woke up early one morning with a really bad cough and struggling to breathe. We called NHS Direct and they said to take him to A&E and get him checked over. Off we went. We got seen very quickly and they diagnosed Finn with croup. They gave him some steroid medicine and the usual Calpol. The doctor then asked “aside from the cough, how is he in himself? Going to the toilet ok?”. We mentioned the mood swings but that Finn was late in toilet training and that he was generally good at going when he needed to but at night he begun to wet the bed. The doctor asked to check his urine just to make sure there was no other infection anywhere. Finn was very willing to go ‘point Percy in a special pot’, and smiled his cheeky smile to the nurse that took it off him. It was probably only a few minutes after that when the doctor came back with the nurse holding a blood sugar monitor. It was as though he knew by looking at us that there was something else was wrong. He asked us if we’d heard of Diabetic Ketoacidosis or DKA, I knew then what he was telling us. I broke down right there and then. They pricked Finn’s finger and it read 23.8 for his blood sugar and his ketones were 7.4. I’d never heard of ketones before but we were told that in a non-diabetic, levels are normally below 0.6. Finn’s levels were extremely high and that he is classed as a medical emergency. They told us that if we hadn’t gone in when we did, he would have been in a coma within a couple of weeks. We were admitted straight away into the children’s ward and Finn had a cannula fitted ready for a drip. Finn’s grandma has type 1 so I had grown up with it but a lifetime of watching someone else cope was nothing compared to what we were about to be faced with. How do you tell your child that he’s going to have to inject himself whenever he wants to eat anything and that he will forever have to prick his finger at least 7 times a day? Finn spent almost a week in hospital adjusting to life as a diabetic. We learnt how to administer the injections, how to do the finger tests, how to recognise a hypo, what do to do if he falls into a diabetic coma and quickly learnt about all things linked to diabetes. Finn didn’t take to injections very well and was having between 6 and 8 injections a day. With this came a lot of anger and a lot of tears. Thankfully, Finn went onto pump therapy a few months and whilst this took away the fear of injections and allowed him to eat more freely like a normal child of his age, it means that he is permanently attached to his pump via a cannula and tube. Since Finn was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on 14th November, a date I later learnt is World Diabetes Day, he is amazing with it and he doesn’t let it stop him doing anything. He has little breakdowns (only with us at home) fairly often and it’s not easy watching him go through it, but we do what any parent would do and try comfort him as best we can. Finn has found a love of football and Leeds United and it currently on trials with them (proud mum alert!), whenever possible he gets to go to Elland Road to watch his dream team! He’s a different child when he’s there and I’m so proud of him and the young man he is turning into. A few months ago my daughter (4 years old) and myself took part in a trial to see if either of us are likely to develop type 1 diabetes. My results came back negative, but my daughters have come back positive and we have been told that she’s basically a ticking time bomb. Not good news, but at least we are prepared and we now monitor her closely so that she won’t get poorly before diagnosis. Every cloud has a silver lining I suppose. Victoria - Finn's Mum

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Diabetes: Just imagine for a second…. Just imagine with me for a moment if you will. Imagine your child in front of you, and a doctor at your side. The doctor tells you that your child’s lungs are starting to give up, and within a matter of weeks they won’t work anymore. They will merely be a defunct organ inside their otherwise perfect body. Imagine the instant fear and worry. Then, stay with me. Imagine the doctor handing you a small medical device, no bigger than your hand. Then imagine him walking to your child and attaching a similar device to her body via an injection and connecting the two via bluetooth. Still here? Good, Now, finally imagine the doctor explaining that you need to be your child’s lungs from now on. That you can set the device in your hand to tell the device in her body how many times her lungs need to inhale and exhale every hour. But the device will need programming for every hour. You will need to inject her in a fresh site every two to three days, even those of you who are terrified of needles will need to become a dab hand at cannula changes. You will need to tell the device when she is exercising and will need to breathe more rapidly. It will also need to know when she is sleeping so you can slow her inhale/exhale down to a nice resting rhythm. But don’t forget if she has a nightmare she will need to breathe quicker again – how can you pre program for that. In your hands you hold your child’s new lungs – you are your childs new lungs. You need to pre plan their day, pre empt what to do when they go for a sudden dash across the playground. You need to live with the knowledge that if you get it wrong, you may be a factor in making your little loved one terribly ill. I struggle to imagine being my child’s lungs. But I am my daughter’s pancreas. I control how much insulin she has an hourly basis, I factor in how exercise will lower her blood sugars and stress will send them sky-high. I try to manage how hormones will impact on her insulin needs, and I spend most nights by her side, checking her blood sugars making sure that what I have programmed that day wasn’t wrong. That I am not a factor in causing my child to become terribly ill. Not everyone understands Type 1 Diabetes – they think it is a condition that can be controlled with time. It isn’t, it can be controlled only by a parent or eventually the child themselves. We were not made to be our children’s lungs or pancreas’, and some days the thought of acting as an organ can be rather exhaustivingly overwhelming. But it is not a choice, simply a challenge. Can you imagine being an organ? I can.

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This morning at 4am my beautiful, wonderful little girl was rushed to hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis. I test her sugar at night as standard, but last night I missed something and it caused her to become very poorly. She is still very poorly, but after hours of hard work from the HDU staff she is on the mend. I have been feeling disheartened about the year, wondering if I was really going to make a difference. And this is a wake up call that even £1 raised or donated is £1 closer to a cure. To sign up http://ift.tt/2gInRkB To donate http://ift.tt/2kLXNH0 Thank you

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So February is ending up being a 'rest month' First there was the problem with my foot, it wasn't a big problem, but as a Type one diabetic, any issue with my feet is a big problem. The feet, along with kidneys and eyes are the first things to be damaged with type one. The glucose in the blood 'scratches' the veins, arteries and capillaries and then scar tissue forms as it heals. The scar tissues cause blockages meaning that blood can't get where it needs to go. The capillaries are tiny little tubes and they allow blood flow into the smallest spaces, and these are the ones that bear the brunt of the damage. The feet have many many capillaries so great care has to be taken not to cause additional damage. Secondly, I have a cold. We all have colds, but I also have type one. How much can having type one actually increase the risks from having a cold? Well quite a lot actually. When you are sick, stress hormones raise your sugar by triggering a release of glucose from your liver (good job body) The body also creates ketones. Ketones are an acid created when The body burns fat for fuel (a standard response with sickness to help your body fuel through the illness) The level of ketones i like to see is 0 although 0 - 0.6 is considered normal. If Malaika has ketones of over 3.0, I am advised to take her to A+E as it's a sign that something is going really wrong in her body. My ketones on Wednesday were 4.8 - 5. If Malaika had this cold, and had ketones that high, the chances are that she would be in intensive care Thankfully as an adult, who recognises different symptoms, I was able to make an appt with the GP and self manage as much as possible and I am now on the mend, but the cold has settled on my chest. This has caused huge blood glucose spikes, meaning I need more insulin. Exercising when you have a lot of insulin on board is not at all recommended as the energy use can happen too quickly resulting in dangerously low blood glucose. I am not giving up, but sadly this month has not gone to plan. Type One is a very serious illness, it can cause a cold to kill. I will continue with the year long plan of 10000km, but may have to rethink the monthly challenges as I took my health for granted when I was planning this, and completely forgot how harsh T1 diabetes is.

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Just a little update. A week of solid rest and my foot *seems* fine. I tried the treadmill yesterday, but I have a chest coughs so I wasn't on their long. Fingers crossed I will be back to it soon! ♡

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So I have tendonitis in my foot. I have been prescribed painkillers, rest and RICE. It's not what I had hoped for, but am glad it's something that can be treated. I am giving myself 2 full days of rest (to include normal walking, but not training/challenge) and then I will see where we are. I always said I won't compromise my health for the challenge, and I won't. I still have plenty of time to make up the mileage and I intend to. Thank you for all of your continued support. ♡

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Day 37 6 February 2017 Made up a few steps yesterday, slowly getting over my cold so didn't manage to run and I am starting to HATE the treadmill with a passion, thank goodness spring is on its way and I can start getting outside more. Passed the 400 miles in 2017 mark yesterday so am really happy with my progress for the year. #10000kmIn2017 total km 660.60/10000 #MissionFindACure February daily Day 6 - 33483/29000 Day 5 - 21862/29000 Day 4 - 29251/29000 Day 3 - 29865/29000 Day 2 - 31043/29000 Day 1 - 29096/29000 January steps 603876/542000 http://ift.tt/2iyeDJM #MilesForMalaika

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No leaderboards today and I apologise to everyone who is supporting Malaika and me. I will get it done tomorrow. Thank you all once again for your support xxx

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Day 28 I hit 300 miles in January yesterday, I am taking it as an active rest day, I took Malaika and Amelie to see Moana at the cinema yesterday and had some much needed together time. Today is another day and just because the January challenge is over, doesn't mean I can sit and do nothing. #10000kmIn2017 total km 488.93/10000 #MissionFindACure January steps 562516/542000 http://ift.tt/2iyeDJM #MilesForMalaika

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Day 27 So so so SO close!!! 1.26 miles away from 300 miles in 2017...but my fitbit battery died, and I haven't got the life in me to wait for it to charge! Tomorrow is another day for this goal, but today was the day that I finished my steps for the January challenge. I set myself the goal of walking 542000 steps in January to represent the 542000 children in the world living with type one diabetes. January 27 - goal completed But I won't stop, because every day more and more children and adults are diagnosed, I won't stop until there's a cure. #10000kmIn2017 total km 475.89/10000 #MissionFindACure January steps 549764/542000 http://ift.tt/2iyeDJM #MilesForMalaika

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Day 26 Early night tonight. We have Malaika's annual review tomorrow and then the 5 day birthday celebrations commence! The Dr said I was OK to walk on my foot as long as it wasn't painful, so I spent the last couple of hours getting some miles. I am currently on 285.04 miles for the month of January, just under 15 til I hit 300, so that is my goal for tomorrow! 60000 steps to go until I hit my goal, Malaika is a little behind with her goal, so I think I will help her with her challenge as part of #TeamMightierThanTypeOne Hope everyone is wrapped up warm tonight! #10000kmIn2017 total km 454.24/10000 #MissionFindACure January steps 481150/542000 http://ift.tt/2iyeDJM #MilesForMalaika

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Day 22 Still exhausted, but still going strong! Trying to get as many miles in as possible before the weekend so I can have a couple of days off before next month! #10000kmIn2017 total km 405.95/10000 #MissionFindACure January steps 425292/542000 http://ift.tt/2iyeDJM #MilesForMalaika

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Malaika and Amelie showing off their 'proud' medal. To get yours, sign up here 100% of profits to JDRF UK to help find a cure for Type One Diabetes http://ift.tt/2gKNFRS

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