Type 1 diabetic Gavin Giffiths has charged some Ghanaian children living with the disease not to let it discourage them but rather soar high in achieving their dreams in life.
Mr. Giffiths, who was diagnosed of the disease at the age of eight, has defied all odds to engage in sporting activities including the playing of football.
He has been running marathons for some years now and has embarked on a global tour to six continents, running 5 kilometers in each country, to raise awareness about diabetes and sports.
Speaking at an event organized by Diabetics Youth Care, a support network for young people living with diabetes mellitus in Ghana, Mr. Giffiths said he “got diagnosed with the disease at age eight and my first response was ‘why me? Why have I got this condition?’ I did not want to have diabetes and nobody wants to [have it].”
He explained how he enquired from his doctor whether he could still play football as all his life, before he was diagnosed, was about sports.
“Then, all that I needed someone to tell me was that ‘yes’ you can still play football [despite your condition].”
The man, who calls himself a Diathlete, said that his questions to his doctor made him discover that he could do sports whilst living with insulin injections.
“If you take good care of yourselves, you can go out there and achieve all that there is to achieve,” he motivated his audience.
The event that was held on the campus of Central University at Miotso in the Greater Accra Region also saw about 60 participants doing a 5-kilometer race with Gavin Giffiths as a way of keeping fit.
Some participants had the opportunity of going through medical screening to ascertain their diabetes status.
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