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Diabetes Awareness Event - Saturday 21 January 2012, The Hilton Blackpool

Our first Diabetes Awareness Event was a wonderful day attended by over 80 people who had experience of Type 1 Diabetes.  We had lots of interesting speakers who inspired us to live life to the full but at the same time look after our Diabetes. 

Thank you to:

  •  Jill Ashton for speaking on Type 1 Diabetes and the use of insulin including insulin pump therapy. 
  • Mark Blewitt (www.markblewitt.co.uk) who was an absolute delight to listen to.  The challenges he has given himself and the determination to reach his goals despite his Type 1 diabetes are inspiring.  Mark has Type 1 Diabetes and wears a pump.
  • John  Pemberton gave an interesting and entertaining talk on dietetics and carbohydrate counting followed by sport and Type 1 Diabetes.  Both these talks reminded us all that life is not just about your HbA1C but about a healthy lifestyle and taking control of your own condition.  John also has Type1 Diabetes and wears a pump. (John’s presentation slides are available upon request.)
  • Robert Ellis, a young gentleman who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes aged 7, gave a light-hearted and entertaining speech which included many aspects of growing up with the condition.  Robert manages his Diabetes with Multiple Daily Injections (MDI).
  • And we finally closed with Kyle and Claudia briefly explaining how moving to pump therapy had changed their lives.

We were delighted to be supported by a number of pharmaceutical companies and everyone enjoyed looking round the stands and getting more information on some of the products available. 

We were also joined by BBC Radio 4 who were very interested in learning more about Type 1 Diabetes and meeting people with the condition.

The Committee are pleased with the positive feedback received and below are a few quotes:

“Very informative; great to hear from well informed people who actually have Type 1 Diabetes themselves.”

“All the Speakers have spoken well about their topics.”

“It’s good to hear advice and experience from others who have Type1 and therefore understand the challenge.”

“Thanks for organising such an interesting and informative event.  This has given us a better understanding of pumps.”

“A very well run and friendly event which is very helpful and informative.  Well done to all the organisers.  Well done, great job.”

“Very informative on key issues that we face every day.”

“Enjoyed the day and the event covered very interesting topics which I found very helpful.”

This meeting would not have been possible without the work of the Committee but also we had the following support we would like to acknowledge:

  • Diabetes UK North West – For your belief that we could run an event like this and your support in contacting people with Type 1 Diabetes.
  • The Pharmaceutical Representatives – Medtronic, Abbott, Bayer, thank you!
  • The Hilton Blackpool - Rebecca, you were great!

Finally, thank you to everyone who attended this Event - we could not have done it without you!


Would you be interested in attending one of our Awareness Events?

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