14/12/2025
Meet Tim, from Roscommon, diagnosed with diabetes at age 8.
Tim has lived with type 1 diabetes for 29 years.
Tim's Story:
My name is Tim, and I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 8. I’ve now lived with diabetes for 29 years, and for most of that time, I felt like I was dealing with it alone.
Growing up, I didn’t know anyone else with Type 1, and because sport played such a big part of my life, I had to learn how to manage diabetes while competing with very little understanding or support around me. It sometimes felt like my diabetes was invisible to everyone except me.
Everything changed when I attended my first Thriveabetes conference in 2024 in Portlaoise. Walking into a room full of people who understood the highs, lows, alarms, injections and mental load instantly made me feel part of something bigger. For the first time since diagnosis, I didn’t feel different, I felt understood.
Since then, I’ve built an incredible support network. That encouragement pushed me to host coffee mornings, speak with Healthy Clubs, and meet with the GPA to raise awareness about Type 1 in sport for managers, coaches, referees and parents. Without this support, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to lead those conversations or know how to structure them.
This year I was invited to share my story at the Mini-Thriveabetes in Ennis, and being surrounded by others living the same reality was powerful and inspiring.
Thriveabetes didn’t just give me a support network, it gave me confidence, purpose, and lifelong diabuddies. And for that, I’ll always be grateful.
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If you would like to follow Tim, you will find him on Instagram as @ tim_type1d
