Type 1 diabetes shouldn’t stop you doing what you love

At just 14, Megan has an array of impressive sporting achievements to her name, last year becoming the U13 European No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu champion. Together with her mum, Kate, she shares her love of the sport, how she balances training alongside her T1D, and why she hopes other young people with type 1 never let their condition stand in the way of their ambitions. 

How did you first get into jiu-jitsu? 

Megan: I started with karate when I was younger about five or six, and then gave jiu-jitsu a try. I just loved it. We found a gym not far away that was just starting a kids class after COVID. I was in that first group of kids and I’m actually the only one from the original class who’s still there. 

Kate: She’d always enjoyed contact sports. When she was little, she was just this fierce little monkey, she loved the sparring side of things. And she started just after her diagnosis too. Luckily, the guys who ran the club were just brilliant and never saw her T1D as a barrier to Megan participating, which was very different to some of the experiences we had at school. 

Q: You’re now competing fairly seriously – what does training look like for you now? 

Megan: I train about five days a week. Sometimes that’s an hour or an hour and a half, but sometimes it’s two or even more than that. As well as the physical part, I always have to think of my T1D alongside that too. One of the tricky things is that I can’t train with my pump on because jiu-jitsu is such a contact sport. It would easily get ripped out, so I have to disconnect it. 

Sometimes I go quite high during training because I haven’t had any insulin for a while, so it’s a bit of a balancing act.  

Kate: We’re always there while she’s training because we want her to focus on her jiu-jitsu rather than constantly checking her numbers. It does mean we have to be really careful what tech we opt for, we’ve had to say no to things like the Omnipod because you can’t remove that easily and it’s quite big. So, she’s on the Tandem T-Slim so she can just unplug it. 

When she was younger, she was hypo- and hyper-unaware, so we’d really have to keep an eye on things. She’s getting much better at recognising lows now, but managing T1D alongside training is still something we’re always thinking about. 

Q: You mentioned discovering contact sports just after diagnosis. Kate, can you tell us about this time? 

Kate: Megan was nearly four when she was diagnosed, and we’re coming up to ten years since that day. She’d been losing weight all summer and drinking ridiculous amounts, but because you see your child every day, you don’t always notice how much they’re changing. I look back at photos and think ‘how did I not realise?!’. Even worse, I’m a biology teacher, so you’d think I would have realised straight away but I didn’t.  

The moment I realised something was really wrong was when she was riding her bike to the end of the garden and said, ‘Mummy, I can’t get back to the house. I’m too tired.’ We phoned 111, got seen urgently, and they tested her urine straight away. Her ketones were through the roof. Not long afterwards we were in an ambulance on the way to hospital. She was very close to DKA. When I look back at the photos now, it’s heartbreaking, she looked so poorly. It was a really difficult time. And then of course, there’s the realisation that you now had a new normal and you just had to adjust even I you didn’t quite know how you were going to do it.

Q: And for you Megan, being diagnosed so young has meant that T1D has always been a feature of your life. 

Megan: Yeah, I don’t really know anything different, so it’s hard to tell how different my life would have been if I didn’t have it.  Sometimes it’s frustrating. If my blood sugar is high and other people are eating, I might have to wait. But mostly it’s just part of my life. I’m lucky to have friends around me who understand and look out for me, that stops it from making me feel different.  

Kate: We’ve always tried to make sure T1D doesn’t stop her doing things. We’ve never really said no to things, just maybe ‘not now’. I think competing in sport has actually helped her understand her body, nutrition and what she needs to perform. 

Q: Last year you became the European no-gi Jiu-Jitsu champion for U13. What was that moment like for you? 

Megan: Winning the European no-gi title was incredible. I’d been training for ages and it was so nerve-racking  because there were cameras everywhere and everyone was watching. I got through to the final and was convinced I was going to mess it up. When I won, I was close to crying, I was so happy.  

Q: And for you Kate?  

Kate: The European title was amazing, but the moment that stands out most for me was when Megan won a title belt at Young Subs. I think just considering everything she’s faced, how hard she’s worked. She became the under-50kg champion and was the first female competitor ever to win a belt there. Nobody can ever take that away from her. 

Seeing her win that belt was probably the most emotional I’ve ever been watching her compete. 

Q: And now you’re preparing to defend your European title! 

Megan: Yes, this October. I’m a bit worried, definitely! But we’re going there to defend it, I’m up for it!

Q: What’s next on the horizon for you? 

Megan: Well, I’m starting my GCSEs so that’s a big one! But lots more training and hopefully successfully defending my European title in October! And as part of my Youth Ambassador role at Breakthrough T1D, I’m creating a video for Diabetes Awareness Month for my school assemblies in November and organising a non-uniform day to hopefully raise awareness of T1D and raise some money for charity.  

Q: We’re seeing more and more T1D athletes in elite sports, which is incredible. What would you say to other young people with T1D who want to get involved in sport? 

Megan: Just go for it! It’s fun, you’ll make loads of great friends and make loads of great memories. Having type 1 shouldn’t stop you doing what you love. I think it’s just about finding your way to manage it because everybody’s different. 

Kate: It might take a bit more planning and you have to think through different situations, but you can absolutely still take part in sport. There are so many amazing athletes with T1D out there, and there’s a really strong community too. Diabetes can add challenges, but it shouldn’t stop you from chasing your goals.