A father hopes his “slightly mad” idea to run the length of the M1 will help raise awareness of a well-known but little understood condition after his son was diagnosed with it.
Jamie Austin, who lives in East Finchley, told the PA news agency that his 12-year-old son Henry’s type 1 diabetes diagnosis in June 2020 was the spark for the M1 challenge.
Type 1 diabetes happens when the body cannot produce enough of a hormone called insulin, which controls blood glucose, causing the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood to become too high.
Not linked to weight or age, patients must take insulin every day to keep their blood glucose levels under control.
A person with type 1 diabetes will have around 65,000 injections and measure their blood glucose more than 80,000 times in their lifetime.
Jamie said: “(Type 1 diabetes) doesn’t always get loads of coverage because lots of people who live with it just kind of get on with it quietly,” the 49-year-old, who works in communications, said.
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“We had to learn a lot in a couple of years after Henry was diagnosed and I wanted to do something for Henry first and foremost because he has been so brilliant throughout all of this.
“I think he got upset about it once on the first or second day as he was told he would have to have injections every day for the rest of his life, but he has just got on with it and been amazing.”
Approximately 400,000 people are currently living with type 1 diabetes in the UK, including around 29,000 children.
Mr Austin is to raise money for the charity JDRF – the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation – which funds research to cure, treat and prevent type 1 diabetes.
He has already raised £5,000 before the run has even taken place.
Jamie Austin will run the length of the M1 for charity following his 12-year-old son Henry’s type 1 diabetes diagnosis (Image: PA)
Despite the M1 being more associated with driving than running, the pair have a connection to the M1.
“Henry got on to a clinical trial at Sheffield Children’s Hospital in 2020 and so we were driving up and down the M1 to see the team there every few months,” he said.
“So when I was thinking of something meaningful to do and something that felt challenging and raised awareness for type 1 diabetes, running the length of the M1 felt like a good, but also…
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