Libby’s Story

We spoke to mum Jayne about what the Steve Morgan Foundation’s £50m investment into the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge means for her and her daughter Libby, who lives with type 1 diabetes.

Jayne and husband Mike know only too well the impact a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes can have on a family. Their daughter, Libby, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2019, when she was just three years old.

Jayne explains: “Everyone in the family had had a bit of a cold so I assumed that’s what was wrong with Libby. When she’s unwell she always pushes through it, but this time she wasn’t really picking up.”

On the advice of Jayne’s mum, and after googling the symptoms of type 1 diabetes, Jayne took Libby to the doctors who – following a urine test – sent them straight to A&E, where Libby was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Jayne, who was pregnant at the time with Libby’s younger sister Lottie, describes the immediate impact this life-changing news had on her and her family: “I was heartbroken. I didn’t sleep a wink that night. When the nurses came in and showed us what we needed to do with the needles, I remember crying my eyes out and saying, ‘I can’t do this.’”

Over time, Libby and her family have adapted to their new normal, but it hasn’t always been easy. Jayne said: “As a family, we’ve sometimes struggled since Libby’s diagnosis. And as Libby is only five, the responsibility for keeping her healthy is on us as her parents. The relentlessness of type 1 diabetes, and the way it impacts a family, can never be underestimated.”

Three years on, the family – including Libby – have managed to fit the trials and tribulations of life with type 1 diabetes into their daily routine. But for Libby, Jayne and Mike, there’s new hope for a future without type 1 diabetes following the announcement of the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge.

Jayne said: “This huge investment from the Steve Morgan Foundation is incredible news to us as a family. We are so hopeful that the future will be a life for Libby that’s free of the challenges of type 1 diabetes, where she will be able to go about her day without the constant checking of her blood sugars.

“Thank you to everyone who has made this happen, and to all the researchers who will be working hard towards a cure for Libby and everyone living with diabetes.”