A schoolboy from Wiltshire has been praised for making his entire school aware of type 1 diabetes.
Isaac Reeve, aged 8, who has had type 1 diabetes for four years, arranged a charity onesie day, a cake sale and gave a 15-minute presentation to all 370 students about what life is like with the condition. All proceeds raised went to the type 1 diabetes charity JDRF.
It was Isaac’s idea to do something to promote awareness around the school, according to his mother.
Sarah Fitzpatrick said: “I’m so proud of the way he spoke about it and why it was important to raise awareness. All of it is down to Isaac, from having the conversation with the headteacher to the assembly.”
Deputy headteacher Russ Payne, of St Mary’s CE Primary School in Purto, added: “Isaac did a brilliant job with his talk in assembly even though it is a big school with 370 children. He spoke so confidently for about 10 to 15 minutes explaining about type one diabetes and why he wanted to organise this onesie day.”
Isaac’s talk included several surprises, one of which featured a video message Steve Dixon who is a Sky News presenter and also has type 1 diabetes. A letter from 10 Downing Street was also read out, after Isaac had written to Prime Minister Theresa May, who also has the condition.
Sarah added: “Isaac has also been so amazing and he has probably coped better than I have because he just gets on with things. He has the odd day where he wishes he was normal and we talk through that but he loves playing football and I have told him that diabetes won’t stop him from doing anything in life.
“It is hard work planning everything around it but when Isaac grows up, he won’t know any different and we never say no to him doing anything because of his diabetes.”
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