Oakdale teen learns to live with diabetes (From South Wales Argus)

Oakdale teen learns to live with diabetes

7:10am Thursday 17th June 2010 in Gwent news

FOR teenager Jacob Moseley the past year has involved a big learning curve as he and his family began to come to terms with his diabetes diagnosis.

Since May 2009, the Oakdale comprehensive school pupil has had to inject himself four times a day with insulin and carry out regular fingerprick tests to measure his blood glucose levels.

But he has refused to let the condition take over his life, being determined to continue swimming with the Pontypool Dolphins club, and carry on drumming - he is currently working toward his Grade Five exam.

His condition has also become very much a family affair, with mum Michelle and dad Gareth among a Diabetes UK Cymru delegation that addressed AMs in Cardiff earlier this week - Diabetes Awareness Week - about the myths surrounding diabetes and the issues facing those living with it.

Thirteen-year-old Jacob, who lives with his parents and younger brother Alex in Oakdale, is among 25,000 people under the age of 25 in the UK to have diabetes, in his case, Type One, which occurs when the body stops making insulin.

A background in paediatric nursing helped Mrs Moseley recognise Jacob's symptoms.

Over several weeks last spring, he began drinking more and more, going to the toilet more often, especially at night, feeling nauseous and losing weight.

The day before his diagnosis, she smelt ketones - an acid by-product created when blood glucose levels are too high - on his breath and took him to his GP.

Though she suspected diabetes, confirmation was "devastating."

"I knew it could be treated but I didn’t want my child to have anything wrong with him,” she said.

Jacob was admitted to the Royal Gwent Hospital for his blood sugar levels to be stabilised and by the second day there he managed to start injecting himself with insulin.

He has also managed his diabetes well while staying overnight at friends’ houses, while his brother got Jacob to test his blood glucose level to see what it was like.

"We've learned to get on with living with diabetes and Jacob has been great. It's about building his confidence and normalising the situation as much as we can," said Mrs Moseley.

"Lots of people have diabetes, but there are still a need to raise awareness of the issues they face, and to dispel the myths around it."

Campaign aims to dispel diabetes myths

DIABETES UK Cymru is involved with a UK-wide campaign during awareness week, to dispel some of those myths. These include: that eating too much sugar causes diabetes; that people with diabetes benefit from food and drink labelled as "suitable for diabetics"; that Type Two diabetes is mild diabetes; that it is not safe to drive if you have diabetes. For more information on diabetes and the myths surrounding it visit www.diabetes.org.uk