'In 1945 Jacqueline Hexter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 18 months.'

In 1945 Jacqueline Hexter, 65, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of just 18 months.

Jacqueline was diagnosed after her mother noticed she was starting to loose weight and was thirsty all the time. 

Jacqueline (pictured, left, in red with her sister Jo, also diagnosed with diabetes), still remembers fondly that at the age of 15, while receiving treatment for her diabetes at Great Ormond Street hospital, she was introduced to Princess Alexandra, the second child and only daughter of the late Duke and Duchess of Kent.

The princess was in her trainee nurse’s uniform and was taking notes from the doctor at the foot of Jacqueline’s bed.

In her youth Jacqueline also attended holiday camps for children with diabetes.  She found these enormously beneficial because all the children were treated the same way and made to feel normal. 

Jacqueline made many friends at these camps.  Today, Diabetes UK runs over 20 children’s support holidays, family support weekends and adult support weekends every year.

Jacqueline says: “Having diabetes had a great impact on my childhood. At the time the care that children with diabetes received was still in its infancy.

Syringes and needles were kept in surgical spirit and needles where re-used again and again until they became blunt.

This was a time before the NHS. I remember that my parents even had to pawn some of their possessions so that we could afford insulin!”

Jacqueline (pictured above, right, with her husband during Christmas 2008), is now cared for by Whipps Cross Hospital, Leytonstone, and this is where she was presented in 2007 with the Lawrence medal by Diabetes UK in recognition of over 60 years using insulin.

Jacqueline says: “I have always made sure that having diabetes never stopped me from enjoying life to the full. I have also seen many positive changes in the way people with diabetes are cared for over the years and people with the condition should know that diabetes can be effectively controlled and managed. 

"Do not think of diabetes as a ‘death sentence’. With a sensible diet and lifestyle you can live life to the full.”