He's a diabetes stayer

He has had type one diabetes for 75 years - and he's fit and active to this day.

Keith is the recipient of the 2023 Kellion Victory Medal, which Diabetes Australia awards to people who have lived a fulfilling life with type 1 or type 2 diabetes for 50 years or more.

Not that things have always been easy for Keith, especially in his early years.

"I was about two months off being seven years old when I was diagnosed," he said. "And I lost my mother when I was very, very young - only about five months old."

Keith's father remarried and went to have two more children. But Keith said his parents couldn't handle both his diabetes and his step-siblings. "And of course I had a bit of a hearing problem too. So I was in a children's home for quite a while."

He said he was well cared for by the nurses there, who taught him a lot - including how to inject insulin.

"These days you don't have to put up with getting big needles. They're only pinpricks now."

As a teenager, he spent two years at a children's home in North Bendigo. He then returned to Melbourne so his doctors could better manage his diabetes.

This was followed by several years at Janefield Colony in Bundoora, where he learned boot making. He left in his early-20s when he could manage on his own and secured a job at Ross Faulkner footballs.

Later he worked at Julius Marlow/Florsheim in Northcote before returning to Faulkner, where he stayed until his retirement.

He married and had three children. His wife Linda, for whom he was a carer, died seven years ago. Keith's daughter Julie received the Kellion Supporters Award.

Today Keith, from Dallas, still keeps fit, going to the gym three times a week and playing carpet bowls at every opportunity. "I'm always doing something."

He stresses the need for self-care. "It's not that you want to have the diabetes, but if you get it, you've got to just look after yourself."

That means regular meals, a healthy diet (though he says his doesn't miss out on much), exercise and keeping tabs on feet injuries.

Keith says the changes he has seen in his long journey with diabetes have been remarkable - in particular, testing for blood sugar levels.

The best development he has seen - and uses - is the constant glucose monitoring system, which sends real-time sugar readings automatically to his phone. "It will let you know if you're getting down to a low rating for a hypo or warn you if you get too high."

Having a granddaughter who has type 1 diabetes, Keith says he wonders if he will be around to see a cure for the disease. Let's hope so.