FOR 50 years Ipswich woman Rosemary Ring has been battling with diabetes and today she has been rewarded for her remarkable achievement.Although diabetes is linked to many complications such as eye and kidney problems and even amputation Mrs Ring has managed her condition to avoid this.

FOR 50 years Ipswich woman Rosemary Ring has been battling with diabetes and today she has been rewarded for her remarkable achievement.

Although diabetes is linked to many complications such as eye and kidney problems and even amputation Mrs Ring has managed her condition to avoid this.

She has seen many changes in the way the condition is handled and today she is due to be given a medal.

Mrs Ring, 53 from Landseer Road was first diagnosed with the condition when she was just three years old.

Her father and grandfather also had the condition and both had to have a leg amputated because of it.

But so far Mrs Ring has managed her condition and has not had any complications.

However when she was young she said there were many spells in hospital for her.

The grandmother of two said: "When I was younger they did not have the kits to test your blood sugar levels like they do now so I often had to go into hospital as they never knew what my levels were going to be."

She said she also remembers her mother practising giving her insulin injections on an orange before doing the real thing on her daughter.

Mrs Ring said: "I remember sitting on my dad's lap while it was being done and then he would give me some money after!"

Although there is a strong link of the disease in the family as her brother also has it, neither of her children have developed it.

Today in the diabetes centre at Ipswich Hospital Mrs Ring will be presented with the Nabarro Medal.

Dr Craig Parkinson, consultant physician, said that despite over 50 years of treatment Mrs Ring has no recognised complications such as eye or kidney problems documented to date.

He said: "No doubt since the time of her diagnosis Rosemary will have seen the management of diabetes change significantly from the days when insulin syringes had to be sterilised before each use. We have now progressed to disposable pen injector devices which make life much easier.

"During the time of Rosemary's struggle with diabetes there have also been many changes in the type of insulin available for management of this condition.

"Rosemary should be credited for keeping up to date with this ever changing field of medicine and for achieving such excellent results by avoiding complications related to her diabetes.