Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
A DIABETIC who became blind after ignoring doctors’ advice bravely spoke out yesterday to warn other young sufferers.
Colette Irvine, who has type 1 diabetes, says she felt invincible when she was a teenager but her refusal to take care of herself has had devastating consequences.
Now 24, she is completely blind and has been told she will die unless she undergoes a kidney transplant – a treatment she says she does not deserve.
Colette, from Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, used to have a car and a job but now relies on a white stick to help her get around.
She blames herself for her prognosis and wants to use her experience to highlight the dangers of neglecting type 1 diabetes.
Diagnosed with the illness when she was eight, she struggled with the burden of daily insulin injections and would deliberately stop taking her medication in protest if her mother argued with her.
When she was 18, she went out drinking with her friends every weekend and binged on junk food, against medical advice.
But she never fully realised the damage she was doing to her young body until it was too late.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/diabetic-who-became-blind-after-3561641
So terribly sad
I hope her message reaches many young people.
Colette Irvine, who has type 1 diabetes, says she felt invincible when she was a teenager but her refusal to take care of herself has had devastating consequences.
Now 24, she is completely blind and has been told she will die unless she undergoes a kidney transplant – a treatment she says she does not deserve.
Colette, from Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, used to have a car and a job but now relies on a white stick to help her get around.
She blames herself for her prognosis and wants to use her experience to highlight the dangers of neglecting type 1 diabetes.
Diagnosed with the illness when she was eight, she struggled with the burden of daily insulin injections and would deliberately stop taking her medication in protest if her mother argued with her.
When she was 18, she went out drinking with her friends every weekend and binged on junk food, against medical advice.
But she never fully realised the damage she was doing to her young body until it was too late.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/diabetic-who-became-blind-after-3561641
So terribly sad
I hope her message reaches many young people.
