My name is Nicola Park and I have just turned 11years old. I Was diagnosed in December 2003 with type 1 diabetes. At the beginning I wasn't really bothered as I think I was maybe a bit young to realise the longer effects of Diabetes. All I could think about was that Santa was coming in 5 days. At the beginning things were ok as I have an uncle who is very close to me with type 1 so I was lucky as I knew a little about it and I also used to give my uncle David his injections. I was a bit scared going back to school at the start because my mum had to go back to work and I was a bit worried that I would take a hypo but my big sister was at the same primary as me so I was lucky. When I was unwell or in a hypo the school staff in the office wouldn't listen to me on how to treat it and this used to annoy me as I knew I was right. Sometimes I would get upset as some people used to treat me different from my friends and say things that I couldn't eat chocolate or that I must have had a bad diet to have diabetes but we were actually healthy eaters most of the time. I also don't like it when the doctors just change my insulin because my readings can be high as this would usually mean hypos and that makes me stand out more from my friends. My sister also says this is when I become moosy (but I don't thinks so).

I have since been diagnosed with coeliac disease and I hate this even more. Most of my foods are high in sugar so this makes my blood counts run high and this upseets me as the doctors just put my insulin up more and tell me to count my carbohydrates (well my mum but I need to do this too). Why not just learn me how to count my insulin with what I eat and not always have to eat carbs we haven't even had training on this just saw a dietition once and given a leaflet as a guide but I cant eat some to the things on it so what good is that to me. I do get angry sometimes and wonder 'Why Me?' but at the end of the day I need to be in control of things and manage what I'm doing with my insulin and food on a daily basis. There could be worse things in life and after all life is what you make of it so I intend to make the most of of I have. This is something that wont hold me back from anything that I want to do when I'm older or when I'm growing up.