Ten Years In, And Hope Looks Different

Next week marks a date that means everything to our family.

Our son will celebrate his 10th Diaversary, ten years since his type 1 diabetes diagnosis.

Ten years of finger pricks, carb counting, sleepless nights, hypo treatments, sensor alarms, resilience, courage, and learning more than we ever thought possible.

And as we prepare to celebrate that milestone, news has arrived that feels historic for the type 1 community.

This week, England and Wales approved the first treatment able to delay the onset of type 1 diabetes. A medicine called Teplizumab. Experts have described it as one of the most significant advances in type 1 diabetes treatment since the discovery of insulin more than 100 years ago. Learn more on Teplizumab via Diabetes UK here.

Teplizumab isn't a cure, and it won't replace insulin. But for children and adults identified in the earliest stages of type 1 diabetes, it can delay the need for insulin therapy by an average of around three years.

For families living with type 1 diabetes, three years is not "just" three years.

It's three more birthdays.

Three more Christmases.

Three more summers.

Three more years before the relentless calculations and constant decision-making become part of daily life.

When our son was diagnosed ten years ago, a treatment like this wasn't available. Like so many families, we learned quickly, adapted quickly, and found a strength we never knew we had.

In those early days, while he was still in the honeymoon period, we were asked whether he would donate blood to a research study. They were looking for samples from children who had been newly diagnosed, and we felt that if our experience could help researchers better understand type 1 diabetes, it was something worth doing.

Ten years later, reading about this breakthrough has made us think back to that moment.

We'll never know exactly where his small contribution fits into the bigger picture, but it's incredibly special to think that his blood sample may, in some tiny way, have played a part in the research that is helping change the future for others.

Because breakthroughs like this don't happen overnight.

They're built on decades of work, and on the willingness of thousands of people living with type 1 diabetes and their families to take part in research, donate samples, and help scientists learn more.

His diagnosis became the reason our business exists.

Everything we do has been shaped by one little boy and the lessons type 1 diabetes has taught our family.

So this week's announcement feels especially emotional.

Because while we celebrate ten years of living with type 1 diabetes, we're also celebrating something bigger: progress.

For the first time in over a century, we're talking not only about managing type 1 diabetes, but about delaying its progression and changing the path for some families.

Research is moving forward.

Science is moving forward.

Hope is moving forward.

And if the last ten years have taught us anything, it's that incredible things happen when researchers, healthcare teams, charities, and families keep pushing forward together.

To our son, Happy 10th Diaversary.

And to everyone affected by type 1 diabetes, today feels like one of those days worth celebrating.

Because the future looks different than it did ten years ago.

And that's something truly special💙