“You could lose your child any night, it’s very unpredictable,” she said.

Donna, whose six-year-old son, Matthew was diagnosed at just three, is hosting Taree’s first JDRF walk on Sunday, October 14 to raise funds and awareness for type 1 diabetes research.

The event will kick off at 9.30am for a 10am start, and will take place along the Taree Parkrun route. 

Participation in the event is free, and there will be raffles and a gold coin donation barbecue to raise funds.

“You can also donate to walkers,” Donna explained.

“It would be great if everyone could register online at https://walk.jdrf.org.au/ in advance, but you can also just turn up and take part on the day.”

Donna attended the Port Macquarie event last year, alongside 30 friends and family members, to support Matthew.

She was shocked to learn there was no event in Taree because no one had put up their hand to host it before.

“There are 50 children in our area with type 1 diabetes, it’s a huge problem,” she said.

“People regularly confuse type 1 and type 2, they don’t but they are very different, type 1 is an autoimmune disease whereas type 2 is a lot about diet.

“With type 1, you could need to do 10 finger pricks in a 24 hour period and each one is different, it’s very unpredictable.”

​Type 1 diabetes affects more than 120,000 people in Australia alone, with up to 2400 Australians diagnosed  every year.

“It’s important to raise awareness because a lot of people don’t understand the disease, and important to raise money to fund research because there is no cure,” Donna added.

“I plan to continue holding the event in Taree, we are starting off small this year but it will grow. Hopefully the community will get on board.”