Flackwell Heath dad who runs with toilet wants to find cure for his two sons

Dad-of-two Giles Cutbert from Flackwell Heath was seen running over the weekend pushing the bog in preparaton of his 'Virtual London Marathon challenge on Sunday, October 2.

The 56-year-old will be running from Bognor Regis Pier to Brighton Pier to raise awareness of Type 1 diabetes. A disease his two son's have to live with for the rest of their lives.

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Theo and Harvey smiling together (Image: Newsquest)

In 2017, his eldest son Harvey was diagnosed with Type 1 and struggled getting used to taking regular insulin at the beginning.

Then in February 2020, Giles' second son Theo was also diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes just before his 12th birthday.

Mr Cuthbert said: "I've been spurred on by my son's to do this because they're good boys, they've done really well and as a Dad I would love to swap places with them but I can't but I can remind people of what they're going through."

Giles running in Marlow high street pushing a bog (Image: Robert Coombs)

"The reason why it's a bog is to do with me running from 'Bognor Regis pier to Brighton Pier' as I couldn't get into the London Marathon. People will also see me and chuckle to themselves. I recently had a group on bikes stop me taking an interest in what I am doing."

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Mr Cuthbert set up a fundraising page in the hope of raising £5,000 to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. So far, he has raised £650 from kind members of the public.

He said his sons have adapted well to managing Type 1 but they've experienced "frightening times" when Harvey once suffered a seizure in college.

Theo in hospital for 10 days (Image: Newsquest)

On Thursday (September 15), Giles and his wife were paying their respects to the Queen when they received a call from Theo complaining of pain near his appendix.

They called for an ambulance but it didn't arrive until Giles mentioned how Theo was a Type 1 diabetic. Then it was moved to a Category One call.

Giles said: "I just wanted to highlight the hidden dangers there are when you have Type 1 diabetes! His appendix was removed the following morning and was extremely infected, he struggled to keep down any food, so they had to put him on a drip. He had a tube up his nose and into his stomach to drain fluid and air.

"When on a drip he has to be monitored every hour and have his bloods checked to ensure he doesn’t go either low or high. So as you can see it is such a tough condition to manage.

"It is tough to watch them having to cope with this but both have been truly amazing and we are so proud of them."

"I would love to help find a cure to rid them of this ailment, as it is one that hangs over them every day. Having to ensure that you put in the correct dosage of insulin with every meal is crucial." 

Giles has been raising money for charities for almost 10 years after he suffered with throat cancer. His mum also duffers with alzheimers and his dad has Parkinson's disease. 

The Flackwell Heath resident hopes people will "dip into their pockets" and donate whatever they can to help his dream of finding a cure.

Visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Giles-Cuthbert22 to donate.