A West Sussex who lives with type 1 diabetes trekked to the Everest Base Camp in Nepal to raise funds for Diabetes UK.

James Nicholls, 29, from Yapton, near Arundel, West Sussex, works for the South Downs National Park and was diagnosed with diabetes in November 2021.

James said: “I don’t think I could have pushed my body any further trying to make it to Base Camp. We trekked 90 miles and climbed more than 8,000 metres over 12 days. It was an incredible experience.

“The people of Nepal are amazing and made the experience what it was . A true once in a lifetime achievement! I’m delighted to have raised £700 for Diabetes UK and would like to thank everyone who supported me.”

James has a type of diabetes called Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults, LADA for short. He says: “The diagnosis was a bit of a shock. There is diabetes in my wife’s family but none in mine so although I knew about the condition I wasn’t expecting to have it myself.”

Diabetes is a condition where your blood glucose (also known as sugar) level is too high because your body doesn’t make any, or enough of, a hormone called insulin. Or the insulin it makes doesn’t work properly. If not managed well, it can lead to devastating complications including sight loss, amputation, kidney failure and stroke.

LADA is a type of diabetes which seems to straddle type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Some aspects of it are more like type 1, while others, such as its slow presentation, can appear more like type 2. It’s sometimes called type 1.5 diabetes or type 1 ½ diabetes.

Jill Steaton, South East Coast and London Head of Diabetes UK, said: “We were thrilled to hear that James had made it to Base Camp and we are in awe of his achievement. We are also very grateful for his fundraising on our behalf.

James has a JustGiving page which is still open https://www.justgiving.com/page/jamesebc2023.