How Far Can You Travel With Diabetes? Why I chose to support Diabetes UK…
I’ve never had to wonder what the travel implications are of having diabetes until now.
My name is Chi-chi Ekweozor and I live in Manchester, UK. For the last seventeen months I’ve been planning a round-the-world charity fundraising project called 7 Wonders in 7 Days.
My plan: to attempt a never been done before dash around the globe that takes in 7 destinations in 4 continents in 7 days and raises £777,000 for 7 charities. And I’m looking for 7 lucky people to join me! Read on for more details.
Inspired by my gran’s death from complications arising from Alzheimer’s disease, I came up with the idea of visiting the new 7 wonders of the world in 7 days after mis-reading a travel article about the new 7 wonders of the world.
The article on the 7 destinations voted the New 7 Wonders on 7th July 2007 included a line about “being either crazy or rich to want to attempt to see all 7 in one two-week trip”. Somehow I mis-read that as ‘a one week trip’ and ‘7 wonders in 7 days’ was born.
The idea behind the project had always been to raise as much money as possible for 7 charities close to my heart. The charities I am supporting through the trip are: Alzheimer’s Research Trust, Diabetes UK, Open Doors, Comic Relief through support of Sport Relief 2010, Feed the Minds, YoungMinds and Victory Outreach Manchester.
The work of one of the charities, Diabetes UK, has a special resonance to me as I have relatives on both sides of my family who have lost their sight as a result of having diabetes.
Both live in Nigeria, a part of the world where routine retinopathy inspections for diabetics is beyond the reach of the average citizen. Retinopathy (damage to the retina at the back of the eye) is a common complication of diabetes. In the UK, regular screenings and early treatment prevent loss of vision for most people living with diabetes. For my aunty and uncle it is too late.
So I return to the question at the start of my article. How far can you travel with diabetes?
I’m looking for 7 lucky people to join me during the 7 Wonders in 7 Days trip in October.
Each lucky person wins a 3 day holiday to one of the new 7 wonders of the world. They are Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal, India, Petra, Jordan, Colosseum, Italy, Christ Redeemer, Brazil, Chichen Itza, Mexico and Machu Picchu, Peru.
You may be reading this because you already support Diabetes UK’s fantastic work in funding research, campaigning and helping people live with the condition in the UK.
You may have diabetes but through diligent medical attention are able to minimize the impact the condition has on your lifestyle.
Either way, I’d like to invite you to enter the YouTube competition I’m running for a travel companion. I’ve created a short YouTube video explaining what I’m doing and what you need to do.
I’m also looking for travel stories of people with diabetes.
I’d like to share your thoughts with the wider web community and also with the fantastic team at Diabetes UK who have been so supportive of the 7 wonders in 7 days project.
How far can you travel with diabetes? Please leave a comment and let me know! Thank you.
Image Credit: Moments of Being on Flickr
Related posts:
- We want your essential travel and money tips!
- What is your Wonder of Wonders?
- Location, location, location
- All you ever wanted to know about traveling to the 7 Wonders: Task results
- Thank you!
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] The trip aims to raise £777,000 for seven charities including Diabetes UK through a never-been-done-before trip to visit the new seven wonders of the world in seven days. She is fundraising for the charity because her aunt and uncle both lost their sight as a result of having diabetes. [...]
[...] Why I’m supporting Diabetes UK through 7 Wonders in 7 Days // Hello and welcome to my web adventure! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed for automatic updates. You can also receive them by email. Thanks for visiting! [...]