Liam Stibbard isn't letting a chronic disease slow him down.
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The talented young athlete was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes earlier this year.
"We were just playing softball down in Sydney and all of a sudden it just started hitting me," he told the Central Western Daily on Wednesday.
"I couldn't stop drinking water. One of my mate's dad is a doctor and he told us to go down to the hospital and get a blood test and that's how it came about.
"I'd just really like people to know it's a lot different to what you think it is."
The autoimmune disease requires Liam to take up to six insulin shots every day.
"It was a bit of a shock ... a real kick in the guts," father Alan Stibbard said.
![Liam Stibbard with the Dexcom device that measures his glucose levels, and sends results to his parent's phones. Picture by Carla Freedman
Liam Stibbard with the Dexcom device that measures his glucose levels, and sends results to his parent's phones. Picture by Carla Freedman](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/c04b821d-0c14-4360-989a-721334c29469.jpg/r0_0_8256_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"To sit and watch your 12-year-old boy go from being unstoppable to this is heart-breaking, but you've just got to keep saying there are worse things out there.
"We just want to let people know it doesn't stop him. He plays representative softball in North Shore every weekend ... he's taking it well."
Liam is now one of about nine people taking part in a clinical trial at Westmead Children's hospital to extend the function of his pancreas with newly developed drugs.
The treatment requires the Stibbard family to travel to Sydney once a month for injections.
They're hoping to raise awareness ahead of National Diabetes Week this month and push for increased care funding.
![Talanted athlete Liam Stibbard with his softball bat. Picture by Carla Freedman Talanted athlete Liam Stibbard with his softball bat. Picture by Carla Freedman](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/b4da5f12-a35a-42f5-a8e8-c8a6bffce1fc.jpg/r0_0_8256_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Liam is also raising money for research and advocacy group JDRF Australia himself.
"It can happen to anyone. There doesn't seem to be a lot of knowledge about it out there unless it actually happens to you or someone you know," mother Rebecca Stibbard said.
"We just thought we should get it out there that there are kids out with this, and get some awareness."
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