But a year later, my mindset changed when I knew I was getting married. 

I was adamant that I wanted to lose weight as I was planning a wedding and thinking about being a bride. I wanted to wear a dress I felt comfortable in on my wedding day and have self confidence and higher self esteem.

And over the next 2 years, I lost five-and-a-half stone and by the time I got married my HbA1c was down to 29mmol/l.  

I lost weight by going to Slimming World. I liked it because no food was off limits. My partner encouraged me. And once I put my mind to something I’m very loyal to the process and do it as much as I can. 

I felt great and could go into a shop and buy clothes off the rail without worrying if they’d have my size. We got married and went on honeymoon and a year and a bit later Covid hit. 

That threw me completely and I went from that five-and-a-half-stone weight loss to putting on seven-and-a-half stone. And unsurprisingly my HbA1c was back in the prediabetic range (42 mmol/mol to 47 mmol/mol) .

What I’m truly hoping is that we’ve bought Imogen more time before she fully develops type 1 diabetes and needs insulin therapy.

I’ve told Imogen that having diabetes won’t stop her living the life she wants to. She can still eat sweets, spend time with her friends, and do everything she wants. But it does take that extra care and effort to manage life with diabetes and keep yourself well. 

If we can give her a childhood where she doesn’t need to think about that yet – especially over adolescence, which is already a hard time – that will mean everything.

We feel incredibly lucky and grateful that we got this opportunity. It all happened because I clicked on a Facebook link and found out about the ELSA study. Now I always encourage my friends who are parents to take part.

"Imogen took part in the study to further research and help others, but it has helped her too – being forewarned is being forearmed."

She was always going to develop type 1 diabetes, but through ELSA we’ve been able to slow down the process and prepare – we know what is coming, but we're not scared.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reach out for support

If you are affected by the topics highlighted within this story or other stories on our website, you can access support from our helpline team on 0345 122 2399, Mon- Fri, 9am- 6pm, or email helpline@diabetes.org.uk.

You can join our free forum – to connect with others affected by diabetes (minimum age 13). For more information, see our forum FAQs.

For those aged 11-25 living with type 1 diabetes, check out our youth programme Together Type 1 for a supportive community of people who understand what it’s really like juggling the ups and downs of life with diabetes.
 

The impact of diabetes on our lives has been a whirlwind, to say the least. I didn’t sleep well for at least two years worrying about blood glucose levels, my son’s future, supporting my husband, checking the continuous glucose monitor 

(CGM) and dealing with alarms through the night. We all felt this way. We’ve always been a close family, but I think this whole experience has brought us even closer – we all look out for each other.

Sometimes well-meaning comments and questions can make me sad. Things like ‘Have things now settled down with the diabetes?’ I used to start explaining a little about diabetes and that it requires around-the-clock attention with different situations impacting blood sugars, but now I just answer ‘Yes’ to move the conversation on. 

"When you’re not affected by diabetes, I do understand that it can be difficult to perceive that diabetes is not like most common colds that will disappear in time."

In all fairness, I had no idea myself before Thomas’ diagnosis and I would have most likely asked the same questions out of curiosity and genuine concern.

Travelling abroad has felt a little tricky at times, especially when making our way through airport security. I felt a bit rushed when trying to separate out equipment that can’t go through the X-ray machines and having to explain why, despite showing our letter for travel from the NHS. 

A lot of people have asked me “how do you know if the treatment worked”. And it's hard to say. The doctors told me their best guess was that it might have been about a year until I fully developed type 1 diabetes, based on where my blood sugars were at. That’s only a rough guide, but any extra time I have beyond that will feel like a win.

Now, I go for an HbA1c test every six months to track the progression of my early-stage type 1 diabetes. But I try not think too much about type 1 diabetes until I know I’ll have to. I feel incredibly lucky and grateful that teplizumab was made available for me, because I know there are so many others who would love the same chance. 

I hope my experience helps open the door for more people to access teplizumab and to get it offered on the NHS. It has filled me with a lot of hope for the future – for myself and others in my situation.

You can follow more of Hannah’s story on the One in Six Billion podcast. In one episode, she discusses early-stage type 1 diabetes and the lead up to her teplizumab treatment. In a later episode, Hannah talks about what it was like to have teplizumab.

I often feel stigmatised by the pressure to lose weight and by the assumption that my weight was the reason for my diabetes. For years, I struggled to better manage my condition, and it was hard not to feel like I was failing.

Through my own experiences – and through my work in community health – I became a Diabetes Champion.  That role helped me learn so much more about my diabetes and about the condition in general.

People would often say things like, ‘You must be big because you have diabetes’ and hearing those comments again and again really affected how I felt about myself. What many don’t realise is that there can be other health, genetic, and environmental factors involved. 

Not everyone who has diabetes is living with overweight. From the health checks we’ve done with different people, I’ve seen first-hand that weight is not always a factor.

Wider community

In some diverse communities, diabetes isn’t talked about much, often because people don’t fully understand the condition, how to manage it, or why medication is so important. 

This lack of conversation can make it feel isolating for those living with diabetes and can sometimes lead to misunderstandings about the condition. By opening up these discussions, sharing experiences, and providing clear information, we can help break the stigma and make it easier for everyone to manage their health with confidence and without the fear of being judged.

To help strike out the stigma around diabetes it’s important to challenge common assumptions and understand that anyone can develop the condition.  Diabetes can be hereditary and many other factors beyond diet play a role. The key is to stay informed, ask questions, and make sure you understand what’s happening in the management of your diabetes.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reach out for support

If you are affected by the topics highlighted within this story or other stories on our website, you can access support from our helpline team on 0345 122 2399, Mon- Fri, 9am- 6pm, or email helpline@diabetes.org.uk.

You can join our free support forum – to connect with others affected by diabetes (minimum age 13). For more information, see forum FAQs.

For those aged 11-25 living with type 1 diabetes, check out our youth programme Together Type 1 for a supportive community of people who understand what it’s really like juggling the ups and downs of life with diabetes.