JDRF Masquerade Ball 2014

Last night I had a fantastic evening at the JDRF masquerade ball. It was held at The Royal Marriott Hotel in the heart of Bristol city centre and was put on by the fantastic supporters, volunteers and JDRF organizers. JDRF are a global charity that specialise in fundraising to help find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. I was invited along to give a presentation by one of the wonderful event organisers who works for JDRF- Danielle.

I was invited to speak a few months before the event so spent the time leading up to it creating my speech and doing my best to make it one that the mixture of volunteers, JDRF supporters and parents of people with diabetes would enjoy. Although my speech was completed well in advance, I came across a quote during the build up to the event that I just had to include because it embodied how I felt about my diabetes completely. The quote was from Nelson Mandela: -

“It always seems impossible, until it’s done”

The reason that it summarises my diabetes journey as it is so far, is that it’s a condition that presents many challenges even though life is challenging enough. But with diabetes there’s no room to let it stop you from doing anything. Diabetes seemed impossible when I was diagnosed and was faced with the idea of injections, it seemed impossible when I wanted to do athletics and it seemed impossible at the thought of leaving home to go to university. But I now count these amongst my achievements opposed to the challenges that might have stopped me because of having diabetes.

It was my turn to do my presentation between the main course of dinner and dessert. After finishing the delicious main course my heart started racing, I thought it was because I was nervous for my speech. But I’d had my first race of the athletics season earlier on in the day so needed to double check that it wasn’t a hypo. Unfortunately however, it was! Thankfully Danielle was my hypo angel at hand with Lucozade and Jelly Babies, helping me get my blood sugars back up to normal before the speech. Although I must admit to a little ‘hypo brain’ whilst speaking!

After my speech I was so touched by the kind comments that people had to say about it. I got to speak to so many inspiring people throughout the event. From amazing parents who were taking their child’s diabetes one day at a time and doing a fantastic job in the process to someone who is about to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in 6 weeks time, in aid of JDRF and young people with Type 1 diabetes. The whole event was amazingly well organised and was the brainchild of Annabel or Understudy Pancreas, as you might know her better on social media; who has a child with Type 1 diabetes. Meeting wonderful people like Annabel was testament to what a great impact the people who support us in living with our diabetes have. It might be an uncertain future as far as a cure for diabetes is concerned, but there’s great hope thanks to the people around us.