In the beginning...

...I knew nothing about carbs and very little about the processes involved in digestion. But then I became the parent of a child diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and suddenly I had to learn everything.

It's been five years since that day. Jake had all the signs, except I did not know what they were. In the December he began to complain he was feeling really tired , but of course you do not take your child to the doctor because they are tired. We are real foodies in our family and we went to a food show that December. There were lots of samples, including fudge and chocolate, the sort of things Jake rarely ate. He got so tired all he wanted to do was sit down and watch the ladies singing in 1940s costumes. But he wasn't ill, just tired.

He lost weight, so much weight that when I look at photos at that time I wonder how I could have missed it. He was only four and he was growing like a beanpole so I just thought he losing the baby shape and getting taller.

Then there was the week he was ill. He had a coldy, flu type thing and he was really run down. My lovely husband rushed out and got oranges to make Jake freshly squeezed juice to give him a bit of energy. David still blames himself for exacerbating Jake's condition, except I think it was probably what helped diagnose it more quickly that week. What I know now is that that orange juice was about the most potent blood sugar raiser Jake could have been given. My first food lesson; orange juice raises the blood sugar

Then Jake started drinking gallons and going to the toilet every five minutes. He even went back to wetting the bed. He was drinking so much the Nursery staff noticed though even that did not trigger alarm bells. It was the following Saturday and he was still unwell, this time complaining of a stomach ache. He told me he'd had 'tummy aches before but nothing like this one.' It was then I said we needed to phone the NHS advice line, though I thought he might have a urine infection. Diabetes never entered my head.