He's a young boy determined to make his mark.

And Thomas Branch is roping in others to help him alert people to the concerns over diabetes.

Ten-year-old Thomas loves sports, especially swimming, but as a type 1 diabetic he has to control his diabetes as well as his strokes.

Every day he injects himself five times with insulin and every three months he has a check up at hospital to make sure he is on the right track.

Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar (glucose) level to become too high.

The hormone insulin – produced by the pancreas – is responsible for controlling the amount of glucose in the blood.

There are two main types of diabetes, Types 1 and 2. Around 10% of all diabetes is type 1, but it’s the most common type of childhood diabetes. This is why it’s sometimes called juvenile diabetes or early-onset diabetes.

In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas, a small gland behind the stomach, doesn’t produce any insulin – the hormone that regulates blood glucose levels. If the amount of glucose in the blood is too high, it can, over time, seriously damage the body’s organs.

Thomas’s dad, Alistair, 40, of Longwood said: “He was diagnosed aged just six and he has managed the changes better than most as my wife, Joanna, is also type 1 so we knew the signs.

Diabetes sufferer Thomas Branch, 10, at home at Longwood with his parents Alistair and Joanna
Diabetes sufferer Thomas Branch, 10, at home at Longwood with his parents Alistair and Joanna

“He swims five to six times a week and swims for the Borough of Kirklees club so we have to work with the coaches he has to make sure he is at the right level of sugars for him to train.

“You can have a normal life with diabetes but you have to be careful.”

On World Diabetes Day, November 14, Thomas and his school pals at St Johns CE Junior and Infants School, Golcar, will help raise money for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Huddersfield diabetic support group.

They will be supporting the Be a Type Onesie event in which children can dress down or dress in a onesie for the day.

Thomas is one of two type 1 diabetics at St John’s.

Alistair added: “Thomas also plays tennis at Huddersfield Lawn Tennis Club and together with the swimming commitments he is hardly in the house.

“Ultimately this is about you controlling diabetes and not letting diabetes controlling you.”