Sweet success

Type-1 diabetic George Kirkpatrick is on a mission to prove that compromised blood sugar control is no barrier to success — however long the race

- David Bradford

Aged just four, George Kirkpatrick was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes, meaning his pancreas wasn’t producing insulin, the hormone chiefly responsible for controlling blood sugar levels. It meant he’d be reliant on daily injections and blood tests for the rest of his life.

“Having been diagnosed so young,” says Kirkpatrick, “I can’t really remember not having it, which is probably helpful.”

He contrasts his own experience with that of his younger brother Gus, who was diagnosed with the same condition aged 13 — and had to deal with adapting to it at the same time as the upheaval of puberty.

Kirkpatrick, who has just turned 28, has never let diabetes hold him back — in fact, sibling rivalry instilled an appetite for competition from a young age.

“I have two brothers, a sister and lots of cousins,” he tells me. “In that environment — competing all the time, whether to be heard or just for an extra piece of toast — I got used to life being competitive.”

As a kid, he rode a bike for fun, but most of his energy was channelled into playing team sports. His will to win would occasionally hit up against the realities of diabetes: the night after a hard match, his blood sugar would plummet, sometimes perilously.

“I was very competitive at rugby, and I would get delayed hypos and sometimes go into a fit and have to go into hospital.”