My mum always used to say that you inherit the tendency towards diabetes but you need some sort of external event to trigger it. Not sure that is what is said nowadays, but I’d agree with it 100%. On the night of her 6th birthday my daughter became ill. We didn’t bother to take her to the doctor, as all they say is “it's probably a virus, come back in 5 days if she isn’t better then.” But whatever it was it was worse than just a cold, one of those that knocks you for six for a week and then takes at least another week to get back to normal. And then we both caught it just as she was improving and wanted to start playing again!
When my daughter was ill I could always smell a sugary smell on her breath, presumably ketones because she wasn’t eating properly, and then once she got better the smell would disappear. This time it didn’t, but she seemed fine otherwise so I didn’t rush to the doctor, I thought I'd just keep a close eye on her. And then we started to notice that she looked a bit skinny, and then at a family get together she downed a pint glass of water faster then she would normally drink her favourite apple juice, and then the next day we noticed that she seemed tired a lot and was eating like a horse despite getting skinnier... She was diagnosed with type 1 exactly 7 weeks to the day after her birthday. Have never mentioned it to a doctor but I am 100% certain that it was that virus which triggered my daughter's diabetes. If I'm wrong then it's one hell of a coincidence 🙄