Carpe Diem

I am going to climb a mountain. Life is way too short to stand at the bottom, looking up. If my Dad taught me anything, it was that no-one dies wishing they had spent more time in the office.

Diabetes touches many people in the UK. It is a silent disease, that strikes without signalling its arrival. It is a life sentence, requiring daily treatment and constant monitoring.

Diabetes, without adequate treatment or control, causes a rash of problems from depression to blindness. You never feel well when your blood sugar is either too high or too low. Long term, this constant fluctuation affects nearly every organ in the body.

Three years ago, when my father died, my world fell apart. My Dad was a diabetic for half his life and virtually all of mine. I became diabetic during my pregnancies, a condition that, thankfully, goes away. Consequently, this is a charity I identify with strongly.

Diabetes UK helps to raise awareness of diabetes and encourages people to spot the symptoms. If this fundraising effort, this mountain climb, stops one person from suffering diabetic effects like renal damage, coma or blindness, then it will have been a success.