A 12-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes has undertaken a grueling challenge in a bid to raise awareness for the condition among other young people.
Laura Campbell (pictured), from Moray in Scotland, was diagnosed in 2015 and later found out there are 3,800 other children in the UK who also have type 1 diabetes.
She also discovered that a lot of people did not know a lot about type 1 diabetes and how it differs from type 2 diabetes. So she decided to embark upon a punishing 380-mile cycle ride, where she dedicated each pedal push to a fellow young person with type 1 diabetes.
Speaking to the Press and Journal newspaper, Laura said: “A lot of people think that you must have diabetes because you have eaten too much sugary food or you lead the wrong lifestyle.
“But in a lot of cases, with kids my age and younger, there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. It’s not even that it’s genetic, it’s just a completely unfortunate event where my pancreas has stopped working like it used to.”
Laura used an exercise bike at home for her epic challenge, which saw her cycle 13 miles a day.
She added: “When I was diagnosed I decided that wasn’t going to stop me from doing stuff. I would get really tired and thirsty after cycling, but I kept pushing myself to get used to it.”
Laura, who attends Lossiemouth High School, raised £555 which she is donating to the Moray branch of the Diabetes UK charity. The money will be spent on giving children with diabetes a climbing day at Elgin’s SpireRoxx centre.
Fiona Pato, the group’s chairwoma, said members were “very proud” of what Laura had achieved.
Picture: Press and Journal

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