My name is Talia and I am Diabetic, and I have been for four years.

I was staying at my granny's house, as my mum and dad were away, and I suddenly felt very strange. I was going to the toilet a lot and was extemely thirsty. My granny gave me lunch and I had some of it but then went to the toilet again, and as soon as I shut the door I was sick. I went downstairs when I thought it was all gone and I told my granny. She thought it was the lunch she gave me! She told my mum and dad and they came back and immediately took me home.

When I got home I was still going to the toilet and drinking lots and I didn't feel any better. I skipped tea and went to bed, I couldn't get to sleep so my mum took in a spare matress and slept on it in my room. I eventually dozed off to sleep, but I woke up and started breathing very fast which woke my mum up. She phoned the Doctor and an ambulance came to the house and took me to Dr Gray's Hospital. I don't remember the Doctor coming to my house or going in the ambulance.

The next thing I knew, I woke up in the hospital in my own small room. There were two nurses standing beside me and telling me what had happened as I couldn't remember anything. I stretched but then I couldn't move my right foot. When I lifted up the duvet I saw a drip in it! I got a bit of a shock but one of the nurses explained that the drip was feeding me!

A doctor came in and pricked my finger with a small needle and put a drop of my blood onto a strip which was in a machine. He said that this was called Blood Monitoring or taking my BM. I asked him why I had to do it and he said that I had Type 1 Diabetes and that I must do it to check the amount of sugar in my blood.

Each night from then my mum or dad would come in and sleep in a small bed next to me, to keep me company. During the week I started receiving lots of gifts and cards from friends and family, even my teacher!

One of the nurses said that I had to start taking a small injection to give me insulin. I was terrified and had nightmares about it, but when it was the day I had to take it, it didn't hurt at all!

I could walk by now but I was a bit wobbly. My mum and dad took me out to Toymaster and told me to pick out anything I wanted! We came back to the hospital with a huge bag of toys and everyone was staring at me!

When we came back I saw that my room was given to another person and that I had to share a room with three other people. Luckily they were kids too.

A nurse came in and put a curtain around my bed, she said that I had had this done before, but I was very confused, she told me to give her my hand. I thought that she was just making me do my BM again but she put in a drip on the top of my hand and I started to scream and cry but before I knew it she had done it. She said "This is why we put the curtain round!" and we both laughed.

A couple of weeks later the hospital said I could go back to school. I was worried as I thought people would make fun of me and I started having nightmares again. We went to my school and we told my teacher about my Diabetes and about what she must do if I feel unwell. All the people in my class were wondering about Diabetes and if you could catch it off of me!

We went to visit the hospital about a month later and we received a book about Diabetes and it explained it in a mannor that I could understand it, and right at the end of it, it said:- "When you are Diabetic, you can do anything that anyone else can." I thought having Diabetes would prevent me from doing the things I wanted but instead I cram in as many activities as I can.