My life. My story.
Share. Enjoy. Empower.
I’m Sarah Harding. Very pleased to meet you.
I’m a type 1 diabetic.
I’m here to share my story.
I'm here because enjoying life is what it's all about.
I’m here to help others.
Sharing my experience
When I was 21 I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and suddenly my well-planned life took a very unexpected turn. After three decades with the condition, I’ve realised two important things. The first is that my 30+ years with the condition means there is very little it hasn't thrown at me. I want to share my type 1 diabetes experience an
When I was 21 I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and suddenly my well-planned life took a very unexpected turn. After three decades with the condition, I’ve realised two important things. The first is that my 30+ years with the condition means there is very little it hasn't thrown at me. I want to share my type 1 diabetes experience and learnings. The second is that I can help other people by sharing my experiences, laying out what I’ve learnt, and maybe most importantly, by showing that a life lived to the full is well within reach. This led to me writing about type 1 diabetes.
Empowering you
Empowering you
My aim is to empower others through a better understanding of what it really means to be a type 1 diabetic, and I hope that everything I share resonates with you and helps in how you navigate your own path.
Enjoying life
Empowering you
Life has plenty of challenges in it without having a medical condition that requires 24/7 attention layered on top of it. I’ve felt weighed down, frustrated, and impeded by it many, many times. Added to that, there’s the sense that people don’t truly understand what it feels like to be diabetic, which has made me feel isolated at times.
Life has plenty of challenges in it without having a medical condition that requires 24/7 attention layered on top of it. I’ve felt weighed down, frustrated, and impeded by it many, many times. Added to that, there’s the sense that people don’t truly understand what it feels like to be diabetic, which has made me feel isolated at times.
However, the upsides of my life have far outweighed the difficulties being Type 1, and I'm lucky to have had a full life that I've really enjoyed.
My type 1 diabetic story starts at university, and covers work, marriage, divorce, and a new direction in my twenties. In my thirties I backpack around Asia and Australia, settle in London, and have babies while juggling work. In my forties there’s upheaval in the wider family, my own growing family, and an intensely busy life all round.
Three decades with type 1 diabetes. Here is what I have learned.
Sarah Harding
About Sarah
background
background
background
Sarah was born in Zambia, and spent her childhood there and in the Middle-East. Her family then returned home, to Cornwall, where Sarah lived out her teen years.
An early interest in other countries and cultures has shaped her life and Sarah has spent time all over the world. Travel remains a passion.
career
background
background
Sarah was diagnosed with t1d at 21, while studying Law at university. She then qualified as a chartered accountant and went on to hold Chief of Staff and COO roles in complex international organisations. She has managed t1d every single day alongside that career - in boardrooms, through high-pressure periods and ordinary ones. Her profess
Sarah was diagnosed with t1d at 21, while studying Law at university. She then qualified as a chartered accountant and went on to hold Chief of Staff and COO roles in complex international organisations. She has managed t1d every single day alongside that career - in boardrooms, through high-pressure periods and ordinary ones. Her professional grounding in data and how to act on it shapes her approach to t1d management as much as it did her working life. That combination of rigour and three decades of lived experience is at the heart of everything The Able Diabetic does.
family
background
family
These days, Sarah lives in south-west London with Jim, and her two children, Lauren and Greg. Family is the centre of her world, and a huge number of life’s pleasures involve doing things together. Whether going to sports fixtures, enjoying culture, exploring new places, enjoying weekends away from it all, or seeing friends, life is always full.