It's me, Laura Marie: animas

November really has been an amazing Diabetes month! I haven't stopped at all and I've loved every minute of it, as I'm sure we all have!

Firstly I attended another Young Leaders meeting at Diabetes UK head quarters. This was our third meeting and I can really feel the progress that's being made. It's clear that a lot of work has been put in since we last met at the Big Event during the summer. This hard work is down to the wonderful Alex and Matt who keep us in the loop and keep us on our toes. The group will officially kick off next year and I'm sure that we will be making a big splash in the world of diabetes... for now though... my lips are sealed about our plans.

Next on my diabetes agenda was to write two guest blogs. One was for Timesulin about what World Diabetes Day means to me and why I feel it is so important. I was really pleased when I was asked to do this, I know that Timesulin has made a big difference to many people's diabetes self management, also the team are absolutely lovely and do a lot to raise awareness for diabetes! I love to give back to the people who I feel really and truly want to help people with their diabetes, and I get this feeling every time I speak to one of their team.

Blog number two was for Diabeto device who are the makers of my favourite little blue birdie diabetes accessory. I regularly interact with one of the creators and was really happy when he asked me to write for them. I was told that I could choose any diabetes topic I liked ,so I went with Blood Glucose Monitors. I chose my Accu-check Expert as I'd just found out that my HbA1c result had improved and I feel that I owe a lot to my meter.

Next up was a biggie for me! I was honoured to be asked by Diabetes UK if I would like to write about my diagnosis for the Independent which would be published on World Diabetes Day!

What an amazing opportunity to have a bigger voice to raise awareness for Type 1 diabetes! The article that I wrote was in support of the Diabetes UK 4ts campaign which is something that is very close to my heart. After a traumatic diagnosis I'll do anything I can to prevent that from happening to someone else. This is why I support their campaign and why I included it in the article... the message is simple but so strong. This campaign wasn't just for World Diabetes Day or for November, but it's for every day until a cure has been found!

Finally I travelled to Animas head quarters on World Diabetes Day to meet with their team and take part in talks and focus groups. I met with my lovely friend @Superbetic_T1 and the mysterious @grumpy_pumper (who I caught smiling at least twice throughout the day!) We listened to inspirational talks from teams of Type 1s who had swum the channel and @Superbetic_T1 told us about how he's recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro despite only being diagnosed a few months before!

At lunch I thrilled (bored really) Fred Gill with stories of why I want to become a Diabetes Specialist Nurse. I was completely unaware of who he was and was a little embarrassed when I found out that he rows for Great Britain. He was actually there to give us a talk about his experience of diagnosis and adapting, but sadly he had to listen to me nattering away before hand!

The whole animas team came together at the end of the day for a walk around the offices, all dressed in blue, to celebrate World Diabetes Day together. At the end, Simon (regional sales manager for animas), took the mic (for what I was hoping was the start of a karaoke session) and thanked us all for our support!

It was a good day and every time I checked twitter or facebook I saw the words World Diabetes Day plastered everywhere. I could tell that people were making a massive difference in any way that I could... articles, post card exchanges, photos, events, talks, fundraising, blogs... anything and everything!

May the amazing work support and awareness carry on into the future until the cure is found!

This week I had the honour of attending the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Berlin. The three day trip was organised by animas, as the diabetes community had fed back to them the need to attend industry events such as EASD.

The first day was a "get to know you" day where I met bloggers from around the globe, people who I had only ever spoken to before in 140 characters via twitter. They were people who shared the same enthusiasm and belief's as I did and saw the bigger picture. The food and drink were in full flow as England, Germany, America, Sweden, Australia and Italy came together for a night of story telling connecting and bonding. I have to say that it was one of the best nights that I've had in a long time, laughing chatting and making new friends. I even attempted to calculate Frederik Debong's insulin dose for him on the mySugr app that he created! After I'd had two glasses of wine he had to take over... unfortunately.

On the second day we got to work and attended a 'bloggers summit' held by the German animas team. Kerri Sparling kicked off the session with a presentation of her blog - Six Until Me. Kerri spoke about her childhood and growing up with diabetes, how she found that blogging had helped her and motivated her, how she had started a family against the stigma of being pregnant and having diabetes. This lead on to a Q&A session where we networked and learnt from each other.

Next up was Dr. Brian Levey, Medical Director at Animas. Dr. Levey is leading the artificial pancreas project and gave a presentation on his journey and the creation of the artificial pancreas. The overall intention is an understandable one... safety for the patient. Reducing high and low blood sugars during sleep and exercise as well as keeping a steady balance day and night. There will be many more benefits to this product, much like with the insulin pump and the overall reaction throughout the room was hugely positive.

Then we came to the presentation stage where I learnt from blogs websites and platforms which I hadn't come across before. We were introduced to individual and group projects which were hugely inspirational and motivating to see. Everyone spoke of a journey that they were on, had a story to tell and a smile on their face as they shared that with the room.

Here's a list of blogs and websites which I didn't know about until now:

That afternoon we took off to the EASD conference to wander around the up and coming diabetes technologies and products that were on display. I was amazed at the pumps and how they all worked as this is a treatment which I have never really looked into before. I've been on MDI for 10.5 years now and after this trip I'm finally swaying towards pump therapy! Exciting times! I was like a kid in a candy store bouncing from stall to stall with fellow tweeter Danie. We both grabbed freebies and confused those who were running the stalls when they asked where we worked. The answer; "we're patients" mostly got an "oh" reply and seemed to throw them off balance. But I still got a lot of information out of the stalls, and being a patient I think I took more away and had more interest than the health care professionals would have!

The finale to my experience came that evening when we met with the UK animas team for drinks and a chat. I admit that I was nervous... these were the top dogs who had made it possible for us to be there. I needed to be on my best behaviour and also make sure that I didn't spill anything on anyone! Luckily the whole team were a delight to be with! I spent the evening chatting to the regional business manager, Simon, and his colleague, Ben. I gave Simon a speed lesson in tweeting while he joked about stalkbook and laughed at me sneaking cookies while no one was looking. What amazed me was that Simon talked to me about my needle phobia; he put my mind at rest. A complete stranger who was there for a drink and to relax took time to talk me through the process and to help me when he didn't need to. So many people made me smile inside and out that day.

I nattered to Ben and the rest of the team about my dreams of becoming a diabetes specialist nurse and suddenly it was time to leave... lack of sleep and too much excitement had caught up with me.

What I took away from this overall experience is that people need to be empowered and that can be done by setting good examples, which also need to be real. We need to test theories and not just take peoples word. Good examples will always be found in text books or leaflets lying around waiting rooms, but they aren't always coming from a real experience. Sticking to one way of treating diabetes just does not work and we all know that, so growing your voice to say "I'm going to try a different approach" could be just what is needed. We need more people to get their voices out there and to be heard... so put your bloggers hats on and unite with us for diabetes!