A mum from Debden whose three-year old son has type one diabetes, is helping to organise a sponsored walk on Sunday, June 12 to raise money for research into the disease.

Beatrice Crossley and her two brothers, Nicholas and Michael Hughes, took part in the Saffron Walden Triathlon on May 1 and the three of them raised £7,659 for the Junior Diabetes Research Fund.

Now Beatrice is organising two fund-raising walks on Christ’s Pieces, Cambridge – a 10K and a 5K family walk with children’s entertainment.

Beatrice said: “This is the first time the walk has been organised in Cambridge. It’s been done in other cities and we are trying to get as many people as possible this year so it can be an annual event.”

She added: “Henry was diagnosed when he was only two. It was a huge shock to us, especially as there is no one in our families with the condition, but we now know it is happening more and more in the UK and around the world.

“Young children are developing this illness with no direct cause, no warning and no apparent genetic link. They think that a flu virus that he had a few weeks before could have triggered the condition.

“When he was first diagnosed, he was on insulin injections and was having the four daily injections. No one, especially so small, should have to go through having so many needles inserted in him. Yet he rarely complained. We managed to get him on an insulin pump fairly quickly which has made life slightly easier.

“The hard thing for our little one is not just the changes of cannula and finger pricks a day but the constant control of what he eats. Calculating the carbohydrates is such a difficult task. Overdo it and we can make him go low which if can make him go unconscious, underdoing it means that he goes high which could lead to serious complications in the future.”

The walks start from 10am. £10 adults, under 18s free. Turn up on the day or register at jdrf.org.uk/onewalk