This weekend I have been in Ramsgate celebrating a special birthday. It was a great reason to make a delicious cake. This is a cake I have made several times before, and it’s the kind of cake that is straightforward to make but makes a big impact in terms of flavour and moistness.
Happy Birthday Mike!
It’s a recipe by Claudia Roden, collated in Favourite Recipes from Books for Cooks. There’s a lemon version, and my sister makes one with clementines. Flourless, it only has a few ingredients- oranges, ground almonds, sugar, eggs, butter and baking powder. Decoration is not my forte or particular interest. So I made a stencil and dusted icing sugar over to make a simple decoration.
The other great thing about this cake is that it’s even better the next day, always a good quality for a cake that’s going away for the weekend. It is delicious on its own, it’s even better with a simple orange syrup and a dollop of crème fraiche.
I can highly recommend this cake. It’s always popular, and really easy to make.
Running news: last week I have done 2 runs. Each one seemed a little easier than the previous one. Tomorrow I am going to try for the longest run of my training plan. Three and a half hours! I will give it a go!
Friday’s run
I am raising money for JDRF, a charity that funds research to find a cure for Type1 diabetes. Type1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that often affects children, although it can develop at any age. The cells in the pancreas that produce insulin are attacked by the body’s own immune defences in error. Eventually no insulin is produced at all. The result of that is that glucose, which is essential for providing energy to the body, is not able to be used by the muscles and cells that keep us going. It flows around in the blood with nowhere to go. Of course this is a disaster, so people with Type1 diabetes have to inject insulin at very regular intervals all day, every day for all their lives.
Keeping the balance right between enough insulin, and too much – which would result in a lack of glucose and a condition called hypoglycaemia which can result in coma – is difficult and constant. Research funded by JDRF is getting closer to a cure. In the meantime other research is making lives easier for those adults and children with Type 1 – new technologies like wearable glucose monitors and insulin pumps make it easier to manage the condition.
Please consider sponsoring me for the Rome marathon which is happening on 19th March – THREE WEEKS!!!!!! the link is here. Thank you.
When I started writing this blog in January 2019 one of the aims was to raise awareness of Type 1 diabetes, and also to raise funds for research into an autoimmune condition that is often (very often) misunderstood. In 2019, with your help, I raised more than £2000 for JDRF, a charity based in the UK* that funds research into finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes, and improving the lives of those living with it.
I’m afraid to say that I have been somewhat neglectful of this particular aspect of the blog over the last few months. I started this post four months ago, and it remained in draft form until this week. Cake and running took over. Sadly I have been kicked into action by some bad news.
Last year friends in Kenya brought a young man to our attention. This young man, Joseph, has Type 1 diabetes. His life is very different to a young person’s life here in the UK. He goes to school, he plays football with his friends, so far much the same. But – he does not have access to health care in the way that we in the UK have access to our wonderful National Health Service. At 14 years old he has to pay for his medication, his test strips, his insulin. It is not affordable. He relies on donations to help. You can read more about Joseph by clicking here.
Everyone is all too aware of the terrible global pandemic of COVID-19. It has been devastating for so many. The direct and indirect effects of the pandemic have had far reaching and long lasting consequences for physical and mental health; for economic stability on an individual level as well as national and international levels; for climate change; for political stability. Joseph’s story started long before COVID-19, but his situation right now is partly a result of the pandemic, albeit indirectly.
Because of the pandemic Joseph has not been able to attend school, like millions of children across the globe. This means Joseph has not only missed out on education, but also on the health care and food he receives at school. His school nurse plays a very active role in monitoring Joseph’s blood sugars, and everyone at the school makes sure that he has a good diet suitable for his needs. But what happens when you are not at school? What happens if you live in a poor household, with a family not educated about Type 1 diabetes? What happens when you are 14 and left to your own devices in relation to your health? You end up sick.
A couple of weeks ago Joseph was very sick. (All photos are used with permission.)
Joseph got malaria. This made him ill, probably more ill than usual because his blood glucose was very high. When people with Type 1 get ill it’s often even harder to regulate blood glucose than normal. The delicate balance of hormones is easily upset – even on the best days, when everything seems to be ok, blood glucose levels can go up or down dramatically for no apparent reason. It is one thing if this happens only rarely, but quite another if it is a daily occurrence. High levels of blood glucose (hyperglycaemia) cause long term damage to nerves, arteries, kidneys, eyes. Hyperglycaemia impairs the immune system. It makes you feel sluggish and unwell. Add that to a disease like malaria … well, it’s not good.
Joseph’s kidneys began to fail. Your kidneys are responsible for removing waste products from your body. If they aren’t working properly then those waste products build up in the body and make you feel even worse.
In the first hospital Joseph went to conditions were pretty basic.
Joseph is having dialysis in hospital right now. Dialysis is a procedure where the blood is ‘cleaned’ by a machine linked to your body. Usually it is done every other day, and in hospital. It is not pleasant but it saves lives.
Joseph has had several sessions of dialysis, but needs more as he recovers, and doctors try and stabilise his glucose levels.
Joseph has been in hospital for a couple of weeks now, and is slowly getting better. First he was in a local hospital before being moved to a bigger hospital that could look after him better. We are all hoping he will be out of hospital soon.
My friends Tim and Carol are part of a charity that runs the school Joseph attends. Vipingo Village Fund support the Future Hope Montessori School, as well as supporting local projects that benefit all the community. Donations go directly to the charity, and are used directly with and for the local people in Vipingo.
In Kenya there is a national health insurance system – the monthly cost of the insurance averages a day’s pay for local residents. That might not sound like a lot – but when one person’s wages may be supporting a large extended family people often don’t sign up for it. Joseph was not signed up for it at the time of his illness (he soon will be hopefully!). What this means is that the charity is paying all the costs of Joseph’s healthcare. Each session of dialysis costs £55, and the estimated cost of treatment is between £1000-£1500. So far the charity have raised £600 – mainly through appeals on their Facebook page.
I have not been focussing on charity fund raising this year because I don’t want to be a pain! But please, if you possibly can, consider donating what you can afford to help with Joseph’s care. Every penny will go directly to helping pay his medical costs, if you note ‘Joseph’ in the message section of the donation page. If the charity raise more than they need for hospital costs right now the money will be saved in a separate account for future costs associated with Joseph’s medical care. You can be sure that there will be plenty of future costs, even with insurance. You can donate on the website HERE!!!
Tomorrow I will be running my first actual event of the year since January – the Phoenix Party Train. Because of COVID-19 there are security measures in place which mean that instead of everybody running together at 9.30am the much smaller field of 45 runners are starting in groups of 6 at 6.45am!! Luckily for me I am in a slightly later group – at 7.45! It will still mean a very early start. The event is a 6 hour timed run, which means that you can do as many laps (up and down the towpath from Walton on Thames) as you can or want in 6 hours. I am aiming for a minimum of 10 miles, and hoping that I may be able to do 13.1!
To encourage me in this effort please donate towards Joseph’s care – it will make me very happy to know that at least one disadvantaged young person with Type 1 diabetes is getting the care they need to live a healthy and happy life. I am sure it will also give Joseph, his family and everyone at Vipingo Village a huge lift to know that people are wishing him well, and contributing to his welfare. You can donate HERE!! Don’t forget to mention Joseph’s name when you make your donation, and the money will be diverted directly to his care. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
I’m going start by saying straight away that my main source of facts for this post is from the fantastic JDRF website, where you will find a wealth of information about Type 1 diabetes. I have also taken some information from this NHS website. It’s sad that even now, in an age when more information is available than ever before, there is still so little understanding of Type 1 diabetes, and so many misconceptions among the the general population – and unfortunately health care professionals too sometimes.
Myth Number One: being overweight causes diabetes. NO! At least not Type 1 diabetes. Weight loss is actually a common symptom of the onset of Type 1. Type 1 diabetes is an auto immune condition. The body attacks the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, killing them off. Insulin is the key that enables the transfer of glucose into the tissues of the body e.g. muscles and the brain. Unable to produce insulin, the body cannot use the glucose in food for energy. Instead the glucose stays in the bloodstream. Without urgent treatment it can cause a serious, life threatening condition called ketoacidosis. (Diabetic ketoacidosis is often shortened to DKA.)
Other symptoms of Type 1 diabetes include extreme thirst (a result of the high levels of blood glucose); needing to wee a lot (a result of drinking a lot); fatigue (no energy available from the glucose).
I think this idea that somehow it must be your fault for having Type 1 diabetes – because ‘you ate too many sweets’ has to be one of the biggest misconceptions of them all. There is so much in the news nowadays about ‘diabetes’ when what people actually mean is Type TWO diabetes. I am not saying that Type 2 diabetes is always ‘self inflicted’ – it most definitely is not, but IT ISN’T THE SAME THING!!! There is nothing that people with Type 1 did or didn’t do that caused them to get diabetes. They had no more choice in getting Type 1 than you had in choosing your eye colour, your shoe size or your preference for dark chocolate over milk chocolate. It is NOT their fault!
Myth Number Two: people with Type 1 diabetes can’t eat anything sweet or sugary. NO! Nobody, with or without diabetes, should be eating or drinking lots of sweet, sugary food/beverages – but it is ok to have a sweet treat now and then. The difference is that people with Type 1 diabetes will need to adjust the amount of insulin required to cope with the extra glucose in their blood stream.
Myth Number Three: people with Type 1 diabetes mustn’t do too much exercise. NO! Everyone should stay fit and active, as much as they possibly can. Having Type 1 diabetes does not stop many, many people from living very active lives and taking part in many different sports. It will always be a challenge calculating their food intake and insulin requirements, and will probably involve more checking of blood glucose levels but it is perfectly possible to lead an active, sporty life with Type 1 diabetes. Diabetes UK has some great advice here about managing carbs and insulin when exercising.
Ben Coker – and his kit! (Image from Daily Mail)
Muhammad Ali is a British boxer with Type 1 diabetes. In 2018 he became the first boxer with Type 1 to gain a licence from the British Boxing Board of Control. Rugby international Henry Slade, and footballer Ben Coker both have Type 1 – and it hasn’t put them off a professional sporting life!
Henry Slade (photo from JDRF)
Myth Number Four: insulin is a cure. NO! Insulin is a treatment – it’s not a cure! Without insulin people with Type 1 diabetes would die, simple as that. At the moment there is no cure for Type 1. Once those cells in the pancreas have gone – they’re gone for good. BUT there are lots of dedicated brilliant people working hard to find a cure for diabetes. You can help by donating to JDRF to help them support even more research projects. One day there WILL be a cure! My fundraising page is here.
I feel that I’ve neglected to write much about the real reason WHY I am running a half marathon every month in 2019. There are lots of reasons, but one main one. I am raising money for a cause dear to my heart. I am running to raise money to help researchers FIND A CURE FOR TYPE ONE DIABETES!! I don’t have Type 1 myself, but people close to me do/did.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition – it’s caused by the body essentially attacking its own cells, destroying the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. This leads to a lifelong dependency on injected insulin. It’s what is nowadays termed a long term condition – what that means is that you have it forever. Right now there’s no cure.
One from earlier this year! I loved this run down in Surrey.
When I started writing this blog one of the aims was to raise awareness of what Type One Diabetes is all about. In this I feel I have somewhat failed. I have been sidetracked by cake. And running. Partly this is because I find them easy to write about. Partly it is because I sometimes feel a bit helpless writing about a condition that I don’t have.
Sometimes I actually stop running, and walk instead! In June my friend Michelle and I walked half of the South Downs Way to Eastbourne.
In this post I’m going to point you to just a couple of the great blogs and amazing people out in the Type 1 world. They can enlighten you much better than I can to what it means to have a condition where you are constantly thinking about what you eat, what your blood glucose level is, and what you are going to do in terms of injecting insulin to keep yourself going.
Not only do these amazing people have Type 1, they have demanding jobs AND they manage to write blogs, do podcasts, walk several thousand miles, raising awareness and money along the way.
Recently I listened to a super podcast by the inimitable Miss Jen Grieves, talking to a fellow Type Oner Peter Davies who has had Type 1 since 1958. He spoke about the ‘old days’ of testing sugar in urine using a mini chemistry kit, that only told you approximately what your blood glucose was 4 hours ago. He also talked about the injecting apparatus – re-using and re-sharpening hypodermic needles! Can you believe it? Well I can. Although I don’t remember my dad actually sharpening his needles I certainly remember him re-using them, and storing them in surgical spirits.
My two best sons! They like running, and supporting JDRF too.
Jen Grieves has a wonderful blog, and now several brilliant podcasts. If you are not sure about what living with Type 1 is like, and you don’t know anyone to ask, have a listen to her podcasts – I promise you will learn a lot. I am certainly learning a lot!
Another person I found on social media (Instagram) is Eliza Bartlett. Eliza is an Australian cricketer. She walked over 4,000 miles from southern Italy to Aberdeen in Scotland earlier this year to raise money for JDRF Australia. She did this on her own for virtually the whole way. She has Type 1, and I simply cannot imagine how difficult it must have been to manage her diet and insulin while walking all that way through different countries. She also managed to plan her route to take in several cricket matches, and even played some golf! It was an incredible, inspiring achievement that makes running a mere half marathon every month seem like peanuts! This article in The Cricketer is a great report of her journey.
If you are on Instagram search the hashtag #typeoneawareness. There are lots of people posting about their lives with Type One. If you want to understand just a little about what it’s like take a look.
Another great place to go is the JDRF website – chock full of information in easily understandable form. November is Diabetes Awareness Month. You may think you know about diabetes – but do you really know about Type One diabetes? Check out the quiz!
On Sunday I am running half marathon number 11, and I am really looking forward to it. I won’t have to worry about my blood glucose at the beginning of the run. I won’t have to worry about it half way through. I won’t have to worry about it at the end. Why?Because my pancreas will just deal with converting glucose and glycogen into energy as my muscles need it. I’m lucky. Let’s help JDRF fund the research that will find a cure for Type One.
Please consider donating to my fund raising page here. And a BIG thank you to those friends and family who already have!
Final selfie – also on a walk in Cornwall. I love this coast path, and walked and ran some of it earlier this year.
Eat Cake And Run 