A dad was scared into changing his habits after he developed a bleed behind his eye while driving on the motorway.
Mike Begley, 43, has lived with Type 1 diabetes since age four. The dad-of-three from Fairfield had difficulties managing his diabetes and he suffered a haemorrhage due to Diabetic Retinopathy while driving on the motorway in 2010.
The bleed behind the eye could have cost Mike his sight. However, he used it as his inspiration to make a change.
READ MORE: Couple 'sacrificed' 20s to get their dream home
Now, 13 years on, fintech director Mike is celebrating. He ran last week's London Marathon in a time of 3 hours 49 minutes.
Mike told the ECHO: I've been diabetic for 39 years. The first 35 years were quite difficult to manage.
"I was only four years old when I was diagnosed and I don't know how my poor parents coped. Back then it was multiple injections, multiple finger pricks.
"Going to sleep at night, there was an element of not knowing what was going to happen. We were blind to the ongoing life of having diabetes.
"I think, from the ages of four to 13 or 14, my mum and dad did a lot of the work for me, so I didn't have to think much about it. But then from my teenage years up until I was around 40, that was on me. I wasn't a very good diabetic.
"When you're in your teenage years and your early 20s, you want to go out and party with your friends. Because it wasn't convenient to be a diabetic - the finger pricks, having to watch what you're eating and the insulin - it was difficult. Sometimes I prioritised my social life over my health."
However, the retinopathy in 2010 was the wake-up call that Mike needed to change his ways. It led to him prioritising exercise.
Mike explained: "The reason the retinopathy happened was poor blood sugar control over a number of years and poor diet. I'd just done a Master's and that takes a good few years of work, I had a full-time job, my third child was just born and that was all in the space of five years.
"Because my diabetes was so difficult to manage, it was never a priority for me. It was just an amalgamation of years of poor glucose control.
"I was driving to Hertfordshire on the motorway in a roadworks section, so there was no hard shoulder. I just noticed a tiny drop of blood start from the bottom of my vision and then it went upwards.
"This was while I was driving, I had no idea what was going on. I had blood in my eye, couldn't stop and I just remember getting to the service station and panicking, ringing people to try and find out what was going on.
"Eventually it stopped and everything was ok. I got it all cleared up and I had laser surgery and it's been great ever since, but at the time, it was quite a scary experience."
Mike describes himself as a "hybrid athlete", who runs and lifts weights. He was inspired by his dad to get into marathon running.
He said: "I started from a couple of weight sessions a week to now exercising up to eight or nine times a week - a combination of running and weightlifting.
"Dad is 75 now and he still tries to run . His goal was always to run the London Marathon and he never got in. It was something that I wanted to do while he's still with us."
"I'm quite a driven person anyway and I like to have goals and targets", he added. "It's also good for my health and I like to do things that are outside my comfort zone."
Last Sunday (April 23), Mike achieved his goal of running the marathon in under four hours.
"Four hours is the edge between being an average runner and a good runner. This has been a heavy training block to get to a sub-four hour marathon.
He added: "At the end, I was very emotional. I'm normally quite stoic but it was the closest I've come to tears in many years.
"I would encourage absolutely anyone to do the London Marathon. The day itself is amazing.
"It feels like the closest you'll come to being a rock star, the support on the course just gives you a buzz. It's the best of humanity.
"The people running who are going through pain to get it done, the people supporting, it's a great day."
Mike also credits Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre 2, which is a glucose monitoring system with a sensor worn on the back of the upper arm, with his improved lifestyle and marathon running. He has used it for four years, allowing him to monitor his blood sugar at any time and see how it has changed over the past eight hours.
Now, finding his diabetes easier to manage and enjoying exercise, Mike wants to take part in more marathons and get close to his dad's personal best of three and a half hours.
More than anything, he hopes his story can show others what can be done if you put your mind to it.
He said: "My kids are a huge inspiration to me. Whilst none of them have got diabetes, I just want to prove to them that, no matter what is going on in your life, there's nothing blocking you. If you want to achieve something, put in the hard work and you can do that."
READ NEXT
Man held ex-partner hostage, beat her and rubbed faeces into her hair in front of five-year-old
Heather Mills' life and what she did with Paul McCartney's millions after bitter divorce
Scouse street traders told to fork out £6k to keep Pier Head spot for Eurovision
Mum who stole £250,000 to spend on holidays and designer gear told to pay money back
