Peter Webster received a particularly untimely present from his doctor on his 12th birthday.
He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a disease that occurs when the pancreas stops producing insulin, which the body uses to turn sugar into energy.
“I didn’t have a clue what was going on,” the St Albans resident recalls. “It hits you pretty hard when you find out what you’re up for. It used to take two people sitting on me to have an injection.”
The 62-year-old says the disease became more of an inconvenience than anything.
Diabetes Australia says the cause of the disease is unknown, but many people who develop it have a history of the condition in their family. Not so for Mr Webster; neither his parents nor grandparents were diabetic.
Last week, the former sales representative was awarded a silver Kellion Victoria Medal that Diabetes Victoria gives to people who have lived with diabetes for five decades.
The silverware recognises how difficult it can be for some people living with the disease.
Diabetes Victoria chief executive Craig Bennett said that less than a century ago, a type 1 diabetes diagnosis was the equivalent of a death sentence. Half the people who developed it died within two years and more than 90 per cent were dead within five years. The introduction of insulin therapy in the 1920s has saved lives ever since.
“There’s no cure yet for type 1 diabetes, but recent innovations have improved life expectancy and quality of life immensely,” he said.
Mr Webster was given his medal last Tuesday at the Sunshine Model Railway Group in Albion in a nod to his passion for building model train sets.
