Dad Steve remembers when his son left home

When Richard was diagnosed, aged 15, it was out of the blue – none of his blood relatives had Type 1 diabetes. A whole host of emotions followed, and dealing with these through his teens had its highs and lows.

When Richard was 18 he moved away for university and the worry that we experienced three years previous came flooding back. Would he be getting the right support to cope? Would the added stress of uni and the increased social life impact on his control?

Luckily, Richard strived for good control after meeting others with diabetes when he was younger and seeing what a negative impact poor control had led to. Above all he realised he’d be around a solid group of people that he could talk to about any aspect of dealing with diabetes during different scenarios.