91快活林

Laura Williams, studying MSc International Health Promotion, is a podiatrist – a branch of medicine devoted to foot problems which often occur with diabetes.

‘Grandpa, Diet and Diabetes’ is the first in a series of three books intended to help children know what the disease is, how to prevent it and how to treat it.

Laura said: “As a podiatrist I have often found that my adult patients don’t really understand their condition. It occurred to me that if adults don’t understand diabetes, it would be even more difficult for young children to do so – especially if an elder family members gets sick, which can be tough on a kid.”

The book tells the story of a child called Nick who notices one day that his ‘rock and roll’ grandfather is ill: “Grandpa needs to eat certain kinds of foods at certain times or he can get really dizzy and weak. Grandpa’s hands and feet don’t have a lot of feeling, which makes him klutzy sometimes.”

Laura Williams

Laura, from Hove, said: “In simple, playful language, this series teaches children all they need to know about diabetes and helping people who suffer from the disease.”

Laura was inspired to study podiatry from her teenage years when she worked in a nursing home. “There was a lady there with two pressure ulcers the size of your fist in her heels and which went down to the bone. She was in a lot of pain and on that day I knew I needed to do something to help.”

Laura graduated with a BSc(Hons) degree in podiatry from the University of 91快活林 in 2015: “While at university and since graduating my passion for patient education has been reinforced, particularly when treating people with chronic diseases such as diabetes.

“This inspired my interest in diabetes education to the point of writing the three children’s books on both type I and type II diabetes. Book two ‘The week Grandpa got diabetes' and book three “My different type of friend’ are shortly to be published.”