Christian Dowen

Christian has lived with type 1 diabetes since he was 4 years old and he is an inspiration to all kids with lifelong conditions. The usual spontaniety of a normal childhood is lost when you are insulin dependent. Most other chronic conditions reuire quarterly medical assessments to adjust medications but diabetes needs continual adjustments for every aspect of daily life - balancing food intake with insulin needs throughout the day. Being an active child with diabetes is tremendously challenging. As a very young child, Christian was thwarted by hypoglycaemic unawareness and had seizures as a result of being hyper sensitive to his insulin injections. He was finally accepted as a candidate for an insulin pump and has been pumping for 4 years. He was the first child in West Norfolk to access the service and now actively promotes access to pumps for other kids with similar difficulties. As a keen athlete he has never let his condition govern his determination to succeed. He is a talented long jumper and 200 meters sprinter, and has competed in various events throughout norfolk. As a teenager his diabetes is even more unpredictable - adolescence and the surge of hormones that accompany this stage of his life wreak havok with his daily control. Despite this he has developed a passion for street running and parkour and he remains positive and determined to succeed in spite of the many setbacks caused by his condition and lack of public understanding of Type1 diabetes.