A Burton Mail reporter has told how discovering that she has diabetes has changed her life.

Laurie Coombs spent the first few days of this year in intensive care after a bad bout of flu led to pneumonia and triggered Type 1 diabetes.

After being rushed to hospital on January 2, doctors had battled to save Laurie’s life, and told her family to prepare for the worst.

Laurie, (28), said: “I can’t remember News Year’s Day. I woke up at 6am on the 2nd and was totally spaced out – I didn’t who I was or where I was.

“When I woke up I thought I was in a mental institution and thought ‘why am I here?’. I still thought it was Christmas.

“Later my mum told me that I had got diabetes. The last thing I knew was that it was New Year’s Eve so it was a big shock to be told I’d got pneumonia and diabetes.”

A doctor also told her she had had the lowest potassium levels he had ever seen, and had been preparing to do tests that their was no damage to her brain or internal organs.

Laurie said: “It was surreal. To begin with I couldn’t walk and it was degrading to be taken to the toilet or use a bed pan.

“The way I deal with things is that you just have to get on with it.”

Laurie’s dad and grandmother also suffer from diabetes, so she knew a little about the condition and wasn’t scared. But there was still a lot to take in as she learnt how to inject herself with insulin, to turn the food she eats into glucose.

The difficult part is using the right amount of insulin – too much lowers the blood sugar level and can cause a ‘hypo’ and lead to a coma, while not enough can cause blood sugar levels too high and leave sufferers delirious.

But Laurie was determined to get on with her life and was back at work three weeks after leaving intensive care.

Laurie said: “It’s a balancing act. If I’m in court or at a council meeting I’ve got to make sure I eat enough in the morning and think ahead about when I can take meal breaks.

“People can’t believe how positive I’ve been. But I’m young, fit and healthy and can lead a normal life.

“My experience has totally changed my attitiude to life and my body.

“I value everything so much more now and want to look after myself.

“I want to show how people with diabetes, especially young people like me, can lead a happy and normal life and don’t have to let their condition limit them in any way.”