LIVINGLIVING
MY DIABETES KIT
SUE WALES
S
ue Wales was 18 when
she was diagnosed with
Type I diabetes in 1983 just
when she was due to start
training to be a nurse. She
recalls, "I had to have a medical prior to
starting the course. It was during that
when they picked up that I had a high
blood glucose level. I had just done my
A levels, and I put the tiredness I had
been feeling down to that. I was drinking
water like a fish and I was quite skinny,
in fact I'd never been as skinny as that
before or since. Looking back I recall
that doing my exams was hard, as I
needed the loo all the time, but I even
put that down to nerves."
Back to her diagnosis, Wales says,
"At university, after my medical checkup
in the morning, the hospital staff called
me straight back to the hospital. They
had called my parents in and told us that I
had such high blood glucose and ketone
levels that I should have collapsed already
and it meant that I had Type 1 diabetes.
We were all taken by surprise as diabetes
was not in the family, although there was
one relative who I was told died of a
'wasting disease' in the early 1900s, and
now I wonder if it was diabetes."
This was back in the 80s, and Wales'
diagnosis was pretty stark, "I was told at
the time that I wouldn't make it to 50 years
old, and was likely to face some serious
health problems. That's basically what you
were told back then. I was told I needed
to start doing injections and given the
equipment to give myself Mixtard insulin
twice a day and told what food I should
HIGH FLYER: Sue Wales took a flying lesson as a present on
her 50th birthday, living life to the full.