There came a point when my parents noticed that I was always thirsty and kept needing to go to the toilet. They took me to the hospital where I was diagnosed with diabetes. My family has totally accepted my condition and supports me in every possible way. Especially at night, when I go to bed with a blood glucose level that's too high, my parents get up to check my levels. They don't even wake me up for it because I need enough sleep for school the next day.

Diabetes is normal for me and I'm open about it. Back when I still had to do injections, I could do it in public without a problem. Now I have the insulin pump and it works well for me, and much better than doing injections all the time. I used to have to give myself injections four to five times a day at least. Now I only need one injection every other day. Also, I can recognise my hypos more easily now and my blood glucose levels don't fluctuate as much any more. In my opinion there's no better therapy than the pump therapy, and who knows, with a little more experience with the pump I may even be able to improve my condition.

Initially, my friends knew nothing about diabetes. They asked me one question after another about my illness and I explained it all to them. All of my best friends know a lot about it now and it's totally normal for them. Sometimes they even notice a hypo coming on before I do.

The pump looks a bit like a mobile phone or maybe an MP3 player. My friends think it's pretty cool. So I have no problem showing it around. When girls see the pump they ask me about it and when I tell them they usually say ‘You poor thing, wow, and you're such a cool guy’. In that sense, my condition is a real advantage with girls.

My advice to you: Stay cool and you can live a perfectly normal life. I've been living with diabetes for years now and I'm doing just fine. I'll always stay optimistic and never give up!