Type 1 diabetes can make you stronger. I’ve proved it
40+ years with diabetes. Six marathons in six days. Ten ultra-marathons in ten years. Now I use the moves I’ve learned to help other people living with diabetes exercise, train smarter, and pursue the sports they love.
Keeping your mind and body fit with T1D is not easy, but it is possible.
Free · 30 minutes · online · no pitch
Explore the FFHI moves
· T1D Endurance Athlete · Blue Ribbon Advocate Diabetes Australia · Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University Australian Institute of Health Innovation ·
40 years lived experience · Presenter, Australasian Diabetes Congress 2026 · Community Representative Rio Tinto Children’s Diabetes Centre
THE MINDSET
What “fitter for having it” means
Type 1 diabetes never takes a day off. Every meal, exercise session and night's sleep comes with extra decisions and higher risk.
As your confidence grows, that daily load builds real strengths: problem-solving, resilience, and knowing your body better than most people ever will.
That's what I mean by fitter for having it. The things that make life harder when you live with a complex condition can also make you stronger.
Stronger because of it, not despite it
WORK WITH ME
How I can help
Whether you live with type 1, or are a health professional or researcher who works with it, I have practical insights and experiences that will relate to you, or your work.
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FOR ADULTS WITH T1D
Train, play and live well with type 1 diabetes
45-minute 1:1 coaching, online or in person, built around your goal, whether that’s a first park run, a return to team sport or a big race.
Start with a FREE discovery call to see if this is for you. Then move to 1:1 or group coaching
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FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Lived experience that works alongside your care
Learn from my lived experience. Call to discuss moves, or refer someone who wants to be more active. I don’t prescribe or change treatment. Clients take their plans back to you.
Reach out for my lived experience and practical insights. Share my moves with your clients.
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FOR RESEARCHERS
A lived-experience research partner
As an Adjunct Fellow at Macquarie University’s AIHI, I partner on research into building strengths after diagnosis, peer support and diabetes distress, bringing 40+ years of lived experience to the table.
Co-investigator. Consumer co-design. Lived experience panel member. Conference talks
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FOR PARENTS
Keep your child in the game
I’m a parent and I’ve lived with T1D since I was a child. I know how hard it is for you. Today, I provide learning support at primary schools, coach community sport and help parents understand what its like and build confidence to keep kids active and playing sport.
Calls for parents. Talks for family groups and schools
THE MOVES
Where do you want to get stronger?
SPORT & EXERCISE WITH T1D
What I’ve learned is easy to adopt and might help you deal with adventure, exercise and sport differently.
Drawn from real life, not a textbook, these moves are practical and effective, and I’ve helped others adopt them too.
Practical support and exercise accountability
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Move 1.1 Dream in colour. Anything is possible.
Once your routine is steady, go back to the dreams that T1D put on hold.
Read more on Motivation — -
Move 2.1 Own it. Tell people about diabetes.
Being open about T1D keeps you safer and opens doors to understanding.
Read more on T1D Basics — -
Move 3.1 Use naysayers to your advantage.
Every time someone says you can’t do something, use it as fuel to drive you further.
Read more on Mental Strength—
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Move 4.1 Buy shorts with zip pockets.
Keep your T1D essentials within easy reach, and zipped so you don’t lose them.
Read more on Training & Kit —
PODCAST
Conversations
World Champion basket-ballers, international footballers, endurance athletes and dog walkers. Everyone with T1D faces the same challenges. Listen to their favourite songs, spirit animals and what gets them out of bed in the morning.
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Lara McSpadden
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Roger Hanney
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Roger Hanney
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Karolina Sherrack
Want more?
WHAT’S NEWS
Subscribe to ‘The Move’. A FREE newsletter which includes latest news on my runs and research projects, plus early access to Fitter for Having It Conversations, tickets to upcoming talks and events, and new moves.
BOOK A TALK OR GROUP SESSION
I share motivational talks, lived experience, and research insights at corporate functions, advocacy events, and health conferences. With health professionals I also encourage people living with diabetes set exercise goals, and understand the practical ways to participate in sport with T1D.
