Millers star Richard supports World Diabetes Day

ROTHERHAM United star Richard Wood is backing a campaign to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes and challenge misconceptions about the condition.

The defender has a personal connection to type 1 diabetes (also known as T1D) as his eight-year-old son Jenson lives with the condition.

Wood is an ambassador for the type 1 diabetes charity JDRF and is supporting its campaign #T1DLooksLikeMe to mark World Diabetes Day today.

The campaign sees many of the 400,000 people who live with type 1 diabetes in the UK producing personalised infographics displaying some of the shocking statistics associated with the condition.

Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune condition where the body's immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. It is not linked to lifestyle.

Richard shared some of the statistics behind Jenson's type 1 diabetes. Jenson's 'DiaDigits', obtained from JDRF's online calculator, revealed the youngster has needed 10,000 blood glucose tests, spent over 900 hours recovering from a hypo (dangerously low blood glucose levels) and required an injection of insulin approximately 12,000 times during his 1,700 days living with type 1 diabetes so far.

A child diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of five faces up to 19,000 insulin injections and 50,000 finger prick blood tests by the time they are 18.

For more information visit www.jdrf.org.uk/t1dlookslikeme