Local woman writes book to share her lifelong experiences of living with diabetes
A Stourbridge woman who developed type 1 diabetes more than 50 years ago has written a book to let others who have the condition know it will not stop them from achieving whatever they want in life.
Yvonne Warner, 62, is also raising money for two diabetes charities by donating royalties from sales of the book, which charts her highs and lows of living with diabetes.
“I want to give hope and inspiration to all the people who have type 1 diabetes that you can live a very fulfilled life,” said Yvonne, a former director in the NHS. “It is extremely difficult but you can do it.
“I want to show that if you have this condition, it does not have to limit your capacity for joy and happiness if you look after yourself and work with it.”
Yvonne, who grew up in Lower Gornal attended Redhall primary and middle schools and Ellowes Hall secondary school, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, aged nine, in early 1971.
“I had started losing a lot of weight, felt tired and was going to the toilet numerous times,” said Yvonne. “My family always said I had such a sparkle but I started to lose that.”
After the diagnosis she spent three months in Dudley Guest Hospital. “In those days you were only allowed visits from your mum and dad so I didn’t see my brother for three months,” said Yvonne.
She recalls how even at that age she made a firm decision about how she was going to face having diabetes. “I remember thinking that I was not going to hate it and I was not going to let it beat me,” said Yvonne.
Type 1 diabetes is caused by the body’s immune system attacking the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. The body no longer produces insulin and glucose levels rise.
Yvonne learned how to inject herself with insulin by practising injecting oranges while in hospital.
She recalls once collapsing while serving in the school tuck shop after her blood sugar levels dropped dramatically and how she had a spell in hospital in her teens and took her Economics and Commerce CSE in its board room where years later, in that very room, she chaired an important NHS meeting.
After taking a BA Honours degree in Public Administration at Teesside Polytechnic, Yvonne started a long career in the NHS, working at hospitals and health authorities across the West Midlands and became an executive director for 13 years in Sandwell. “I loved my career in the NHS – I found it really fulfilling,” said Yvonne.
After leaving the NHS she studied for two City and Guilds qualifications in floral artistic design before setting up a business supplying flowers for events such as weddings and funerals. Yvonne is also a property landlord and was a friend and trustee of the friends of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery for several years.
She is married to Tony, a triathlete and iron man, who has his own successful family business. Both have raised money for diabetes charities through various events and challenges. Yvonne swam the equivalent of the English Channel while Tony recently completed a 100km run from Brighton to London. The couple have two children and a grandchild.
Over the years she has seen major developments in diabetes treatment. She started off with glass syringes and metal needles, but later used plastic disposable syringes, pen syringes and now a sophisticated continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system where a sensor in her arm reads her blood sugar levels and instructs a pump on her belt to give her the required insulin dose though a cannula.
“Over the past 50 years or so I have done a minimum of 10,000 urine tests, 170,000 finger pricks and 70,000 injections to keep myself alive and well,” said Yvonne.
She said managing diabetes to ensure blood sugar levels were neither high or low was a constant task. However, her positive attitude has always remained. “I just make the best out of everything and turn it into positivity,” she said.
She has called her new book My Forever Best Friend and in it she describes how she embraced diabetes:
‘I resolved she would be my best friend. Because I would be hers. I’d look after her and never neglect her. I’d love her. And she, in turn, would keep me safe. She’d warn me when I wasn’t looking after us, let me and mine know that my sugars were too low or too high.’
“Type I diabetes is my forever best friend,” said Yvonne. “It is with me for life and I am inseparable from it. The book is all about how I learned to live with my best friend, through the good and the bad, the highs and the lows.
“The whole experience of being a type I diabetic has made me the person I am.”
She started making notes for her book around seven years ago. “My mum and dad supported me so much in the early years of my diabetes. I lost my mum many years ago and lost my dad during Covid and I decided it was time to put the book down on paper because they would have been so proud of what I had achieved.”
The book was created through an organisation called Storyterrace, which connected Yvonne with ghostwriter Phil Dourado, who she described as ‘absolutely brilliant’. It is now available to buy in hardback, paperback or Kindle format through Amazon.
“The book is also a dedication and thank you to my family and friends and all the healthcare and associated infrastructure who have helped me get this far over the past 50-plus years and to let them know how appreciated they are,” said Yvonne.
Her royalties will go to Diabetes UK and the Juvenile Diabetic Research Foundation, which carry out research and development into diabetes and also provide information about the condition. “I want to help them continue the phenomenal work they are doing and from which I and thousands of others have benefitted over the past 50 years,” said Yvonne.
By Andrew Thomas - Contributor
