Blog

The Treetop Pluckers

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This is diabetic and musical father and son, Tom and Jed strumming together up a tree in the South Downs. Jed is a student at Brighton Institute of Modern Music. He says,

It's great having a dad with diabetes; he's given me some brilliant tips and let me into some type-1 trade secrets. During a gig, even with all that adrenaline, I'm always on top of my blood sugars.

Tom is the author of the number-one bestseller, 211 Things A Bright Boy Can Do and his next volume, A Gentleman's Bedside Book is out in the autumn. He says:

I feel so privileged to have been given this fascinating condition. After four decades, and some 47,000 injections, I wouldn't change a thing. Diabetes is as much a part of me as my moustache or my love of Islay malt whiskies. What's more, Jed understands his condition so well now that I never have to worry about him. It's been great.

The Circus Strong Man

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This is Andy Cross, diabetic prison officer and body builder. We stumbled upon a circus while location scouting in Milton Keynes for his shot, the ideal backdrop for his strong man pose. Andy is super-active and a real life tough guy, this is what he says about himself.....

" I've had type 1 Diabetes for 24 years and to be honest its not stopped me from doing anything. I have been a Prison Officer for the last 7 years, as for my spare time I have been in the British squad for Karate and came 2nd in the british championships for Tang Soo Do. I am now into road cycling and last year completed a ride from HMP Dartmoor to HMP Woodhill where I work as a prison officer, raising money for Diabetes UK covering 205 miles in 12 hrs 10 mins. I also have been combining the cycling with bodybuilding, strange mix I know !!!! I train with weights 4 times a week and cycle at least 4 times a week too. Of course with any physical activity I used to suffer with hypo's during this but since being on the pump this has been reduced greatly."

Kicking Diabetes Into Touch

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This is 13 year-old Aubi Bone. Oh and it's his dad, Andrew's cheesy headline. Likeable and enthusiastic, this is what Aubi says about himself....

"I was 10 years old when I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.  It was a huge shock, although it does run in my father's side of the family. We've always eaten healthily, though, so my diet didn't have to change. I have always been very sporty and play rugby, football, tennis, basket-ball  and in the summer, athletics and swimming.  I also walk and cycle. All these are possible as long as I regulary test my blood-sugar - even in the middle of matches - and make sure that I have a bottle of lucozade to hand. I adjust my insulin according to the amount of exercise I am about to do and the carbohydrate I am about to eat. All the sport, and especially rugby, does make me more prone to "hypos", particularly at night, but they are easily fixed and I'd rather be a little low that high. I will not allow diabetes to stop me and, in any case, exercise is good, whoever you are.  Just be aware, tell everyone (all my friends know about my condition and what to do in an emergency) and never let it stop you!"

Surf's Up! But Blood Sugar is Down

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This is Conel Freeman-Harrison, a 14 year-old diabetic surfer and insulin pump wearer. I flew up to Newcastle earlier this week and photographed him on his local beach at Tynemouth, a picturesque spot that dispelled any thoughts I had of it being grim in the North East. I didn't actually say that but his mum Fiona noted my surprise at how nice it was. Conel was a real star, a good surfer with a cool and relaxed attitude, especially to his mum giving him sugar when his blood glucose got low. Here's some words of wisdom from Conel......

Hello, I'm Conel Freeman-Harrison. I go to Whitley Bay High School and I surf at Tynemouth Longsands using a 5'10" Bic Fish board. I only began surfing 3 years ago and have had 3 lessons with pro surfer Jesse Davis. My diabetes does not really get in the way of my surfing other than my mum asking me to keep hypo-fit up the sleeve of my wetsuit. It has never stopped me doing anything I want to do and I do not think it ever will. When I'm older I would like to be a Marine Biologist, giving me a good reason to surf where I work."

Belly-Dancing Belle Of The Bluebells

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I just re-shot diabetic belly-dancer, Vanessa Culliford.  It took us a while to find some bluebells but it was worth the search. She's had type 1 diabetes for 39 years is fit and healthy and a great role model for her fellow insulin dependants. This is what she says....

"I have been a type 1 diabetic for 39 of my 44 years and have somehow managed to defy a lifetime of doctors dire warnings of blindness, amputations and death by the time I'm 40 and still be here!  I also managed to produce two wonderful, healthy, non diabetic daughters and continue to be one of the fittest, if not a little rebellious, people I know.  I have always loved music and dancing, it is impossible to keep me off the dancefloor.  I started bellydancing 7 years ago to entertain my mother who had just been diagnosed with cancer at the time; I think she would be very proud and rather amused that I now have a belly dancing career thanks to James."

The Karate Kid

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This is Matilda Rostron, my latest diabetic portrait and another inspiring young lady. She's 11 and has both type 1 diabetes and coeliacs disease. As well as having some impressive karate moves, she takes part in football, netball, swimming, cycling and tag rugby. She wears an insulin pump which she says make's life a lot easier but is complicated because as well as being aware of her blood sugar levels she can't east anything that contains gluten. She says:

I get sick of it especially at parties but the people at school are very caring and good about it, particularly Mrs Elliott who helps with lunchtimes and if I feel low.

A Picture Of Mental Health

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This is Catherine Amey who I just shot in a cafe in Worthing, West Sussex. The full story will appear in a women's magazine in a month or so but here she gives a rough outline of why we did the shoot:

The feature was about my mental health journey starting from February last year when I experienced a severe psychotic episode. (Psychosis is a very serious mental illness where the patient completely loses touch with reality.) My episode was the result of a side effect of an antidepressant that had been prescribed by my GP.  While psychotic, I experienced some very frightening hallucinations and delusions and ended up having to be sectioned. The article describes my experience of psychosis as well as my time in hospital and recovery after discharge.

Super Sophie

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This is my latest diabetic portrait. The truly inspirational 19-year-old Sophie Constable who lives with both Down's Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes. This is how her mum describes her..........

Sophie is passionate about life. She plays football for a girls' disability team, represents Hertfordshire at netball, swims,  and horesrides having come first in her event at the RDA National Championships 2 years ago. Sophie is a massive Man Utd supporter and went to Moscow for the Champions League Final 2 years ago and to Rome last year. She loves to travel and has visited, amongst others, Cuba, Egypt, India. Sophie's great interests now are music and dancing, specifically street dancing and belly dancing. She loves going to gigs. Sophie loves to cook and eat, she has recently taken up photography and just entered her first competition. Sophie went to mainstream schools and got 5 GCSE's, though she wasn't happy about the grades. She's now at college doing an IT course. Sophie has been an altar server at church for nearly 11 years which is something she is very proud of and particularly likes training up the young servers when they start. Sophie loves to raise money for charity and over the years has raised thousands of pounds. Mostly she auctions or raffles memorabilia she has been given at Manchester Utd but she has also organised quiz evenings. Sophie has given the money to different charities but mostly it has been for Africa.

The week after getting diabetes she said she loved it. She's never really minded the bl tests or insulin and loved the fact that she was geting " 5 meals a day" and always got priority in restaurants and on planes. For the first year it was all a breeze and I felt a bit of a fraud siitting in the diabetic out patient clinic.  Since then it's been more of a pain. As Sophie has Down's Syndrome as well it makes things a bit more complicated. During the day Sophie does her own bl tests and insulin and carb counts her packed lunch which she prepares herself for college. Night times are more difficult as she needs help with working out how much to eat for her night snack and the blood sugars can be unpredictable. We do blood tests at night, when she's asleep, and if she's hypo we give her food and she goes straight back to sleep. Occasionally she cheats but mostly she's very responsible about what she eats. Sophie's HbA1C, blood pressure, cholesterol, weight etc are always great, in fact she's very healthy.

Martina

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Martina Navratilova who I shot for The Times last year. Sadly she has just announced that she has breast cancer, it has however, already been treated and the cancer was spotted early so she should almost certainly survive.

Possibly the most sucessfull female athlete ever, she was unassuming, friendly, funny and comfortable being photographed though determined to look happy and upbeat, however I did manage to catch this more moody shot between smiles.