I had been feeling poorly for a while, I had some days off school and my Mum thought I had a virus, I had no energy and had been sick. I felt a bit better and went back to school but I was struggling to see the whiteboard as it was all blurry. I was also really thirsty. It was Thursday evening of October 6th 2006 I had some tea and felt tired I was so thirsty and kept needing another drink. My sister Emma who was training to be a nurse had just finished a placement on a diabetic ward. She asked me why I kept drinking so much. I was so tired I wanted to go to bed. Emma told our Mum she was worried and said she had a testing kit in her car. She went to get it, I felt cross and didn't want her to prick my finger, I tried to go upstairs and couldn't see the door handle. Emma was really worried and pricked my finger the machine didn't have a reading it said 'Hi'. Emma hadn't seen that before in the clinic so tried testing her boyfriend and my Mum in case the machine was faulty. They all had normal readings. Emma told my Mum and Dad to take me to the hospital. I had gone to bed but Emma persuaded my parents that I could be seriously ill. My Mum rang our GP and explained about the test, he arranged an appointment with the out of hours doctor straight away at the hospital. By now it was 9.30pm. I was told to get dressed and get in the car. I was feeling really frightened. At the hospital I was immediately admitted to the children's ward. The doctor was explaining things to my parents they looked really worried. I had a drip put in my hand which really hurt. I didn't realise that would be the start of endless blood tests, needles and constant checking.

The next week I spent in hospital, we had endless information, leaflets and books to read. I didn't want to read any of them I was just hoping it would all go away and I could go back to normal. My parents had time off work; they still looked tired and worried. The nurses tried to teach me how to do the injections it all seemed so complicated. My other sister came home from university and my Grandparents also visited me in hospital as well as some school friends. I liked all the fuss everyone was making of me.

After a week I was sent home, it was scary leaving the hospital I didn't know if my parents would know how to look after me. We all had a lot to learn, my levels were very unstable and my parents kept panicking when I went low which made me feel frightened. None of us were sure how much I should be eating or how much insulin I should be giving myself. They wouldn't leave me alone for a second in case I had a hypo. The school didn't want me to go back as they didn't know how to look after me either. The diabetic nurse went into the school and helped the teachers understand. My first day back at school was really strange, I looked the same and my friends all thought I was completely better. They all crowded round when I had to test my blood and wanted to watch me do my injections. I wish my diabetic nurse had been able to come with me on my first day and explain to my friends about it and show them all the stuff I now needed to do. It is difficult to explain things when you are 12 especially when you don't like being the centre of attention.

If I could change anything about that time I think it would have been easier if I had had someone of my own age with diabetes to talk too. No one in our family has diabetes, I had never heard of it. My parents didn't know anyone with it either. All the information seemed complicated and all the things that could go wrong all sounded so awful. I think there should be better access to insulin pumps and anything else that helps with good control. Also most of the public information is about Type 2 diabetes and being overweight, so the children at school all thought it was my fault I had it even though I am not overweight. Eighteen months later it is still confusing and scary. Yes I know what to do a lot more but at times my levels still change for no good reason. My parents are still anxious but not so much. I do feel a lot more confident than when I was first diagnosed but I worry more about the long term affects. So please please hurry up and find a cure. I keep reading that a cure is not far away and that they have cured diabetes in mice. I am determined to maintain good blood sugar levels, keep fit and have a good diet to give myself the best chance in the future. But I cannot finish without saying a big thank you to my sister for helping to diagnose me before I became seriously ill.