1 treat a week. That means 1 sweet thing like 1 ice-cream, 1 chocolate bar, 1 piece of apple crumble a week. I could live with that now, I am more of a savoury person really but I got told this when I was 10 and just before the Easter holidays! My Easter eggs have never lasted so long and my brothers were in their element, trying to be ever so kind and help me out!

It's all changed since then. I look back now and laugh at the fact that I was so restricted. Since then I have changed from 2 injections of insulin a day, to 4 injections a day with different sorts of insulin, to I think I was doing 6 injections a day with again different sorts of insulin and now I am on 1 sort of insulin and no injections, all with the help of the insulin pump. In my eyes this is the greatest invention ever. I can eat what I want when I want, I can drink what I want when I want and most importantly, as a teenager, I can sleep when I want and for how long I want to!

I don't have to calculate exactly how much I am going to eat and what time I am going to eat it and how much exercise I am going to do and when I am going to do it and what if, God forbid, that all goes wrong and I actually decide to do something completely different? I no longer have to worry about any of these things. I can alter my medication as and when I want to no more of this complicated forward planning and calculations. I swear diabetics on injections are actually the cleverest people ever. I just was not cut out for all that maths, with the push of a button on my insulin pump I can solve all those problems.

I have had some hairy experiences as a diabetic. There have been the obvious dramatic hypos and the passing out and the big lumps on the foreheads that you have no recollection of making pretty much the antics of a drunken old man! Then there has been the scary moments when you realiz e you have forgotten your medication or have run out of it! And then there are the more comedic moments whilst on a plane to Bordeaux I got asked to switch of my funky mp3 player (which was in fact my insulin pump)! On refusal I got told that the flight attendant would do it for me and he then grabbed my pump and tried to switch it off meanwhile I was still attached and was about to be dragged to the cockpit of the plane so that he could ask the pilot if I was in fact allowed to leave it switched on!?!?!?

There are obviously disadvantages to being a diabetic such as the odd hypos and having to make sure you always carry a bottle of lucozade or a packet of glucose tablets around with you. I think that these things just make you more aware and make diabetics the most organized people ever too!

As well as the disadvantages, believe me there are advantages too.

The number of times I have been late to class at college or I have forgotten to go to a music lesson is uncountable but I never fail to have a legitimate excuse! Sorry sir I went low, sorry miss I had to find a new battery for my pump, sorry I had a hospital appointment! There are just so many excuses all relating to being a diabetic. It has got to the point now where my friends even use the excuse 'Holly went low again'! Teachers can never accuse me of lying because if I did not have control of my condition I could quite easily be having this many hypos! I am sure that soon enough teachers may become suspicious but as I only have a few months left of college before I leave I am not too worried!

On a more serious not, I have also had the opportunity to meet new people (through unforgettable diabetic trips out as a child) who I have formed lasting friendships with. I have been able to talk to other people who are diabetic and share experiences benefiting myself and benefiting others also.

As a diabetic I have not felt any different to any of my friends. I have been able to take part in all the same activities; I have completed my Duke of Edinburgh Gold award, I have been on school trips to France, I have taken part in sports and music teams, I have been to numerous sleepovers as a young girl and now I am able to attend as many parties as my non-diabetic friends, if not more!

Next year I plan to take a gap year to Tanzania to teach English to disadvantaged children there. If 8 years ago, when I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was asked what will you be doing in 8 years time I would never have believed that I would be able to go so far away from home and so far out of my comfort zone, away from everyone who looks after me and cares for me, but it is actually going to happen and I cannot wait!

Being diabetic to me is not a hindrance to any part of my life; I am still able to do everything as I was able to before. Looking at me, you would not be able to tell that I am in anyway different to my friends or family, and that is the way I like it to be I don't want any unnecessary exceptions made for me as I don't in an way feel different from anyone else.

I think that being diabetic is what you make it, it can be a dreadful illness that takes over your life or it can be just another of those things that in some ways can have more benefits than expected.

1 treat a week. I can tell you now that as I just wrote this I have had my treat, 1 packet of minstrels, and I know for definite that there will be more treats to come!