Skye woman Kate Masson is preparing to take on the London Marathon later this month inspired by a cause close to her family’s heart.
Kate, from Glenhinnisdal, will be running to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, when she joins thousands of participants on the iconic race around the capital on the 23rd of April.
Her son Evan, now 14, was diagnosed with type one diabetes three years ago and the family have had to adapt to the significant challenges posed by having to manage the condition.
The JDRF fund type one diabetes research to improve lives and with the ambition of one day eradicating the condition for good.
In recent years there have been great advancements in treatments.
Evan has insulin administered automatically though a pump, while he wears a continuous glucose monitor to track glucose levels in real time, with the information relayed to his own and his parents phones.
Kate said the charity was working to allow every youngster with type one diabetes access to this sort of technology through the NHS.
She added: “It’s a cause very close to my heart. Since being diagnosed with type one diabetes Evan has had to become his own nurse, dietician and doctor and we’re very proud of how he manages himself.
“It was really hard and we as a family had no idea what it meant to have type one diabetes and what effect it would have on us all.
“Evan was a superstar and very quickly learned how to test his blood and take his insulin injections with no fuss at all. We had to learn how to count the carbohydrate content in his foods and the dosage of insulin required.
“We had to understand what it meant to be hyper or hypo and what we needed to do in the event of either.
“We would get up every night at 3am to check his blood sugars afraid he would fall hypo and we would not know.
“Type one after all is a life threatening condition if not managed correctly. It is a constant 24 hours a day 365 days a year juggling act with no days off.
“Controlling Evan’s condition is made a lot easier due to all the technology that is now available to him.
“This is only possible because of the great work organisations like JDRF do. Hopefully one day they will find a cure for type one diabetes.”
Kate said she had watched the London marathon on TV last year and felt inspired to have a go in an effort to help the charity which does such important work and research.
Previously the furthest she had ever ran was the Skye half marathon.
Her training schedule has taken her to the 20 mile mark, with the length of the runs due to be tapered slightly ahead of the big day.
She’ll be running in a field of around 40,000 participants and travelling south to cheer her on will be husband John and their children Evan and Hollie as well as Kate’s mum Jeannie.
So far Kate’s fundraising has brought in over £3,000.
She added: “I would like to thank everyone for the amazing support – it means so much.”
To donate online click here