Our resource hub is home to a wealth of articles, stories and videos about managing and living with type 1 diabetes.
Place your order for our free information packs that support adults and children who have been recently diagnosed.
Our researchers are working on different ways to develop a cure for type 1 diabetes - from growing insulin-producing beta cells in labs to hacking the immune system.
Learn about the technologies that can deliver insulin automatically when needed. And discover the next generation of insulins that are currently being developed.
You could win a cash prize of up to £25,000 when you play the Breakthrough T1D lottery. As well as the chance to win great prizes, you’ll also help fund our research to find a cure for type 1 diabetes.
Researchers need your help. By taking part in research studies and clinical trials, you will help them make progress to improve lives and find a cure for type 1 diabetes.
Our ambitious new roadmap is aimed at driving significant advancements in type 1 diabetes research, treatment, and care.
Your donation helps support people living with type 1 diabetes and funds the best treatment and cure research.
We provide a wealth of information and free resources to help you support and empower your patients or students.
Take our free course for schools to learn more about supporting pupils with type 1 diabetes in educational settings.
Home > Knowledge & support > Resource hub > How setting up Maidstone’s first Pride helped teen Kitty overcome her fear of CGM
Kitty: Being at London Pride was so exciting, we dressed up and I even coloured my pod in rainbow. I didn’t want the day to end and asked my mum why our hometown of Maidstone didn’t have a Pride celebration. Her reply was, ‘Why don’t you start one?’
Mum has always said that there’s only one thing I can’t do and that is be a pilot [editor’s note: people with type 1 are now allowed to be pilots] due to my diabetes, so I’ve always tried to do everything else and manage my diabetes around it.
Kitty: To help us start Maidstone’s first Pride we got into contact with a local youth group and the council. We put out posters inviting young people in Maidstone who wanted a Pride to come along and share their views.
Within six months we had a lovely team of volunteers aged from 12 to thirty with adult mentors to help with the skills we needed to do a Pride.
I was invited to talk at my school assemblies during Pride month and even got invited by the head of Kent Police to attend their LGBTQ+ events awareness conference.
Kitty: My confidence grew, which was great, but I’ve had so many hurdles I have been unable to overcome with my diabetes. I’m petrified of blood tests, vaccinations and having a CGM. Even though I started off with injecting insulin, I’m now on the pump. I’ve been finger-pricking to check my bloods since I was 4, so the needle issue doesn’t make sense to most people – not even me!
Kitty: As Pride got closer, I was so excited about the day, the parade and the party that I didn’t want to keep finger-pricking and losing out. At my clinic appointment I finally asked the nurse if I could take a Libre home to try and see if I could use it for Pride.
My mum couldn’t believe it and I could see she was trying not to put any pressure on me so that I didn’t get disappointed if I couldn’t do it. She told me how brave some of the LGBTQ+ community had been, some coming to a meeting for the first time in their chosen gender and showing the world who they want to be, even though they were scared. And something in me clicked and I felt so much braver than I had months before. So, I went for it and I’ve hardly done a finger-prick since. I love the CGM!
Jodi says: When Kitty was diagnosed aged four, I remember being at work on the phone to the consultant. I was slumped in the corridor, trying to take in the information and felt completely devastated. What the consultant didn’t know was that my sister (10 years my senior) has type 1 and I’d witnessed her growing up with huge needles, blue-light hypos and a reluctance to take adventures due to her diabetes.
The thought of Kitty being restricted like this broke my heart. I vowed there and then I would not let her diabetes stop her from doing anything she really wanted to.
Jodi: Lucky for us, diabetes treatment has advanced so much since my childhood with my sister, that even she re-educated herself after seeing how differently Kitty was managing diabetes.
Fast forward 10 years and I found myself standing next to Kitty a London’s annual Pride celebration, screaming at the Netflix Heartstopper Cast to give her a wave.
Jodi says: No matter how much we have told Kitty that this would make her life easier, the want and need for the CGM just hadn’t clicked in her mind until Pride. Whether it was all the confidence she gained, the brave youngsters that she met overcoming their own fears – whatever it was – I’m glad she is moving forward in her treatment.
Other parents of children with type 1 have said the same – that the children will do it when they are ready, and it’s true. It’s so tough knowing that there’s a better option out there for their management, but they are too scared to make the change. I never expected it to be an experience outside of her diabetes to make the penny drop.
Jodi: I’m so proud of my type 1, LGBTQ+ daughter. I hope that other young people with type 1, whatever is holding them back, remember this – you are already warriors every day and there is a whole community that is already proud of that.
Find out about how continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, connected insulin pens and other tech can help you manage type 1.
Learn about managing type 1 diabetes and working, driving, eating, drinking and exercise.
Find out about the research we're doing to prevent, treat and cure type 1 diabetes.
Retired accountant Andy Buckle has lived with type 1 diabetes for almost five decades. After a demanding career, he began to think about how he could contribute something meaningful.
Alexandra shares how a sudden diagnosis of advanced diabetic retinopathy threatened her sight, how swift treatment helped protect her vision, and why she wants others with type 1 diabetes to know that even in the hardest moments, there is hope.
This spring, Sam Morrison’s hit show Sugar Daddy landed in London, bringing laughter, vulnerability and the messy reality of life with T1D to the stage. We chatted to him about his journey navigating diagnosis, grief and identity.
When Elena’s son received a positive result for early onset type 1 diabetes (T1D), she received a call about a new immunotherapy that could change everything.
Our research is improving the lives of people with type 1 and making strides towards a cure. We’ll keep pushing until we make type 1 diabetes a thing of the past.
Would you like to visit the website of our {{ affiliate_country }} affiliate to complete your action?
