Four years ago Kerry's son was diagnosed with diabetes. Here, she talks about the highs and lows of of living with the condition.
The 8th of November 2010. That was the day our whole world turned upside down. I'd walked into our doctors thinking my seven-year-old son had a urine infection as he'd started wetting the bed and would be given anti-biotics and that would be that.
Nobody could have prepared me for the shock and powerful rollercoaster of emotions that was to begin five minutes after getting into the doctors waiting room. My son was given a urine test. When the doctor dissapeared and came back with a second doctor I knew something wasn't simple. They did a finger prick test and then we were told that they thought my son had Type 1 diabetes and we were to rush him to hospital asap. As soon as we got to hospital it was a whirlwind of tests and a bombardment of information.
Nobody could have prepared me for the shock and powerful rollercoaster of emotions that was about to begin
Kerry
I remember sneaking to the toilet and bursting into floods of tears. It was like a bereavement. My son was the bravest anyone could be in the situation and I kept strong in front of him, but inside my heart had broken. We came out of hospital three days later armed with insulins and a boat load of information.
Since then my son has just got on with it. He has his moments when he asks why him and I try to be as honest as I can, but I ask the same question in my head every day - why him?
We are so strong now and our bond could never be greater. We've been there for each other from day one and I've told him many times how proud I am of him. We go onto the pump soon so it's all the nervous anxiety of the unknown, but I know we'll do a fab job because we do it together. It's been several months of no sleep and fighting hypers at night and hypos during the day, but we'll get there in the end. I know we will.
My heart is still broken, watching my son having to have six, sometimes seven injections day and night, but there is a huge pile of proudness holding it together. It's a hard and sometimes harsh world living with diabetes, but with a smile on your face you can face it and we put our smiles on every morning.
