Except for the new friends he makes at Diabetes Victoria camps – they know exactly what living with type one diabetes is like because they too have the disease.

Leo, 14, recently returned from his fifth Diabetes Victoria camp – a week spent on the Mornington Peninsula with children his age.

“He doesn’t have friends with type 1 diabetes and he doesn’t mix with anyone because there’s not a lot of them around, so when he goes to diabetes camp and sees everyone else doing finger pricks, putting carbs in to their pump, having hypos or highs, it makes it seem normal and that he’s not the only one doing it,” said mum Carmen Goldsbrough.

Since returning from Camp Manyung during the school holidays, Leo and his new friends have formed an online support group.

“They all message each others about their (blood sugar) … I think it’s given him a sense he’s normal and there are other people going through this.”

Leo was diagnosed with type one diabetes aged three when his mum noticed he was going to the toilet every 10 to 15 minutes and was very thirsty. Type one diabetes most commonly develops in children, teenagers and young adults.

“When Leo was first diagnosed it was quite overwhelming and I worried a lot about his risk of developing complications at an early age,” Ms Goldsbrough said. “Several years after he was diagnosed I studied diabetes education and now work as a dietitian and diabetes educator at Ballarat Community Health.”

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About 2650 Victorian school aged children live with type 1 diabetes and the number is growing, but experts do not know why.

“There is no cure for type 1 diabetes, and it cannot be prevented – unlike type 2 diabetes which is often linked to lifestyle issues,” said Diabetes Victoria chief executive Craig Bennett.

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