Greg Murphy
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10:00 AM Thu 23 February, 2012
Source: BigPond Sport
Greg Murphy has opened up about his family’s personal journey with type 1 diabetes as JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) is formally selected as charity of choice for this year’s Clipsal 500.
When Murphy’s first son Ronan was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 18 months of age it instantly threw his world into disarray.
“My wife and I had no understanding of what this meant and how it would affect our lives,” he said.
“It was a huge shock to find out what was ahead of us and to come to grips with the fact that there was no cure. Injecting an 18 month old 3-4 times a day is not much fun for anyone and the management of the whole process is at times exhausting.”
The Murphy family received another shock when their second son Cormac was diagnosed with type 1diabetes at the age of 26 months.
“Having two kids under six with diabetes was a handful,” said Murphy.
“Type 1 is a huge responsibility and it is very difficult to put that responsibility on to other people, therefore my wife and I don’t spend much time away from the kids together.
Fellow driver and JDRF ambassador Jack Perkins was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2006 and hopes the Clipsal 500 support of JDRF will help fund research and create greater awareness of the disease.
“A cure for type 1 diabetes would be a miracle,” he said
“The thought of travelling through each day without continuous Blood Glucose Level checking and multiple injections would make life a breeze and it would make my V8Supercar Racing just a little bit easier."
JDRF hopes to raise $100,000 over the 4 day event and make an impact on JDRF’s investment in Australian medical research to help the 122,300 Australians currently living with type 1 diabetes.
For more on JDRF www.jdrf.org
