Sheffield dieticians to run half marathon to help children with diabetes

Gerry Bennet and Emma Randle will both run the Plusnet Yorkshire Half Marathon in Sheffield to fund a camp for eight to 11-year-olds, while Katie Green will be raising money to help pay for a new wing at the hospital.

The money they raised will go to The Children’s Hospital Charity.

Emma, a paediatric dietician, said: “We want to take 16 children with diabetes to a weekend camp in Edale, where they will get to do activities like abseiling and canoeing, but more importantly it gives them an opportunity to meet other children with diabetes - which some will never have done before.

“The weekend gives them an opportunity to learn to manage their diabetes more independently away from home and meet other children with diabetes. The activities affect their blood sugar, so it is a really good opportunity to help the manage high and low blood sugar levels, and grow in confidence doing it in front of others - because everyone will be doing it. Above all we want them to enjoy the weekend.”

Emma said that some children shy away from injecting their insulin in public because they are shy or embarrassed, or may have had their confidence knocked by people wrongly assuming they have type two diabetes because of eating too much sugar.

Katie, another paediatric dietitian, said: “Because we work at the hospital it is a charity close to our heart and we see first-hand and on a day-to-day basis the difference their work makes.”