DID YOU KNOW? Over 130,000 Australians have Type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is the most common chronic disease in children, and is more common than cancer and cystic fibrosis.
DID YOU KNOW? People with Type 1 diabetes face many serious long term health complications.
Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong incurable disease, and without daily insulin injections people with Type 1 diabetes would die.
DID YOU KNOW? The cost to Australia of Type 1 diabetes is estimated to be $600m per annum.
DID YOU KNOW? Over 275 people a day are newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
DID YOU KNOW? Nearly 1 million Australians have Type 2 diabetes.
DID YOU KNOW? The cost to Australia of diabetes is nearly $7billion per annum.
DID YOU KNOW? Over 60% of people with Type 2 diabetes can overcome it with fitness and healthy lifestyle.
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Name: Matt Donovan
Team member, Born to Run
Story: For Matthew Donovan, 22, growing up with his father's love of endurance sports has given him a keen sense of adventure. Multi-day endurance motor bike racing, all-night kayak racing and multiple marathons were just some of the many competition events that were part of his family's daily life.
An involvement in sport, training, health and fitness stemmed from these early experiences and it was only natural to pursue a related career. After leaving St Augustine's College, Brookvale, Matthew undertook a degree in the emerging discipline of exercise physiology - improving the management of chronic disease with exercise as primary treatment - at University of NSW, which he completed in 2011.
Matthew now works as a personal trainer at Crossfit Ignite, Sydney, and as a spinal cord injury therapist, in between finding time to train for the 5 Deserts races.
Not an experienced runner like his father, Greg, Matthew knows he has a huge challenge ahead of him to prepare mentally, physically and emotionally for the rigours of the race schedule but he is driven by the need to help find a cure for his brother's Type 1 Diabetes.
