“WHAT I NEEDED WAS ADVICE NOT JUDGEMENT.”

Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in her late 30s, 15 years later, Kate Carton feels like she’s finally making inroads in to managing the disease. Now 53 years old, she says a combination of things has helped her turn things around.

- KAREN FITTALL

“Finding out I had diabetes was horribly depressing. I’d been experiencing all the typical symptoms, including incredible thirst, and I finally found the time to go and get checked out by my doctor. When they said the words ‘type 2 diabetes’ my first thought was ‘great, just what I need on top of everything else’.

“I have two adult children and both pregnancies were a bit of a nightmare. I was really unwell throughout both of them, throwing up every single day, and losing hair and even teeth. During my first pregnancy, I lost 22 kilograms. Being pregnant also put a lot of strain on my heart and eventually, after I’d had my children, I was diagnosed with a heart condition called tachycardia.

“So learning I had diabetes as well was soul-destroying, particularly because I knew how serious it could be. My dad had diabetes and his experience was a shocker. He had one toe amputated, which then turned into having his leg amputated below the knee. Then his other leg had to be amputated, before finally having to have another operation to have his first leg amputated even higher. So yes, I knew a fair bit about it.”

Putting others first