Ever read about something or watched a documentary and thought, that would never happen to me. Well that was me six months ago, before I was diagnosed with diabetes, type 1. I was just your average 15 year old boy, eat normal and was an average weight. Doesn't sound like a candidate for diabetes, does it?

Out of no where I started getting an incredible thirst, unquenchable and really annoying. I drank litres of fizzy drinks trying to stop this outrageous thirst, but it just seemed to get worse and worse, and of course I couldn't stop needing the toilet either. I tried to ignore it thinking it would go away, but it wasn't that easy. I then began to experience painful cramp down my legs, this was because my pancreas wasn't producing enough insulin to break down my sugars and release it into my blood, causing my whole body to have a system shutdown. It didn't help that I kept eating and drinking high sugar food and drink, it was just making it harder for my body to cope.

I mentioned what was happening to me, to close friends and family and immediately people began to think that this was first sign or diabetes. None of us really knew much about diabetes, and no one in my close family has diabetes type 1. I researched diabetes on the internet and found out that the thirst and cramp were symptoms of diabetes. Even thought part of me knew I had diabetes, I still managed to ignore the symptoms and hoped that they would go away.

After a month or so struggle I realized I should go to the doctors. I booked an appointment and they took a sample of my blood to test, I didn't think it would be that easy. I waited for the results but kept telling myself I wasn't diabetic, and it wouldn't happen to me.

A couple of days later I was at home on my Xbox with my girlfriend and the phone rang. It was the doctor; he wanted me to go straight to hospital, my dad took me straight there where my mom waited for us. It wasn't long before they told me I was diabetic, and if I hadn't got there sooner I could have been in risk of going into a diabetic coma. My blood sugar was 27.5 when I arrived, this didn't mean a thing to me at the time, it just sounded like numbers. But the nurses told me I was so lucky to be okay, and that my blood sugar was extremely high.

I wondered why it had happened to me, and what I had done wrong. I wondered if I had eat the wrong food or drank too much fizzy drinks but the doctors assured me that, there was nothing I could of done to prevent it. It was just going to happen to me. I wondered what was going to change, what I would have to eat and thought I was going to have to eat like a hamster for the rest of my life. The next few weeks were like a blur in and out of the hospital, and a new diet which I wasn't particularly keen on.

Once I had spoken to dieticians and countless numbers of doctors though I started to understand. I wouldn't have to eat much differently, of course I had to cut out sweets and chocolates but it wasn't very difficult as doctors told me lots of alternatives. I have to check my blood sugar levels regularly and eat a certain amount of carbohydrates with my meals to sustain healthy levels. It didn't turn out to be as difficult as I had imagined.

My life is completely normal except now im healthier and fitter. I have to inject myself with insulin 4 times a day, as my pancreas can no longer produce enough for my body. Sounds difficult but it all becomes part of a daily routine. I am lucky to have friends and family who have supported me through this small obstacle in my life. It hasn't stopped me doing the things I love and I'm still as normal as ever. I don't wish I wasn't diabetic for a second, because I'm certainly a lot healthier and fitter and I haven't had to change much. Of course I get the odd day when I want to stuff my face with sweets and eat what I want, whenever I want, but its an easy temptation, of many, to get over in my long life time.