DRWF Fundraising: Farnborough mother has many bridges to cross to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes
Following daughter Ava’s type 1 diabetes diagnosis earlier this year, Katie is taking on 16 bridges challenge in London to support research and education for the condition.
A Farnborough mother whose young daughter was recently diagnosed with life-changing auto-immune type 1 diabetes is to take on a marathon walk along the River Thames in London to help raise funds for research and education.
Katie Smith and her two friends Laura Johns and Helen Bartram from Farnborough, Hampshire are taking on the 25km Thames Bridges Trek on 13th September and are seeking sponsorship alongside alerting parents to the challenges.
Katie is fundraising for DRWF as her daughter Ava, aged 11, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in January of 2025.
Katie said: “I felt I had to do something to help not only Ava but everyone else out there living with type 1 diabetes.
“Ava was diagnosed at the GP’s when she felt poorly and a test showed harmful ketones in her system. I was told to collect her from school and go straight to hospital as her condition could deteriorate within hours if she developed life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). This all came as a complete shock as the family has no history of type 1 diabetes.
“I still remember the day Ava was admitted to hospital and hearing those words ‘I’m sorry to say but your daughter has type 1 diabetes’. It broke me, and the family we were so heartbroken, but Ava has been amazing dealing with it all. She started injecting herself in the hospital and handled everything so well.”
Left to right: Laura Johns, Katie Smith, Ava Smith and Helen Bartram
Ava is now benefiting from the latest continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology that links a continuous blood glucose sensor with a pump that delivers insulin as the body requires it.
Katie added: “Ava is now on insulin pump therapy and she is doing even better now that she has a bit more freedom and it hasn’t stopped her from doing anything.”
The specialists in the hospital explained to Katie that had they delayed bringing Ava in she would have developed DKA, which came as a huge shock to her and the family as just how quickly type 1 diabetes can develop into a very dangerous situation.
Katie emphasised: “We’ve all been on a rapid learning curve to understand type 1 diabetes, what it is and how it manifests itself. Initially, I was worried that I had done something to cause Ava to develop type 1 diabetes. I was reassured by the hospital diabetes team that I had not done anything wrong. Nothing in Ava’s diet or lifestyle had ‘caused’ type 1 diabetes.
“The fundraiser is important to me as I know firsthand how hard it can be living with type diabetes with all the carb counting, making sure you don’t give too much insulin, the hypos (hypoglycaemia, low blood glucose levels) that can take a while to recover from, but aside from that it is manageable!”
Tim Green, Head of Community Fundraising at DRWF, said: “The charity is so grateful to Katie and her friends for choosing to fundraise for the charity as well as helping to raise awareness of the dangers of undiagnosed type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes can manifest itself very quickly and is a life-threatening condition. DRWF supports people with diabetes to improve their self-management skills and funds vital research into research to establish the causes, prevention and treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.”
Ava is starting secondary school in September and Katie has found they have been very supportive helping her be able to settle into a new routine. She also has some lovely friends; her best friend already knows how to change her insulin pump. Ava can sort her own carbohydrate counting so the pump can deliver the correct amount of insulin per meal or snack.
The Thames Bridges Trek sees more than 2,000 walkers follow England’s longest river as it heads East through the heart of the capital. It is 25 km – from Putney Bridge to beyond Tower Bridge – crossing the 16 historic bridges as they go.
Katie and her friends have raised almost £1,000 to date (substantially beating their initial £600 fundraising target) and welcome more donations to support their cause.
Donate to support Katie and her team here
Find out more about fundraising for DRWF here
Read more about diabetic ketoacidosis and other complications of diabetes in the DRWF Diabetes management when you are ill diabetes information leaflet here
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