i dont know the diff between type 1 & 2, anyone fill us in?

My sister has type 1 diabities. It can be difficult to control early on as Paul has stated, but in many ways it shouldn't become a stop for anything that Nick needs to do in his career as a sportsman.

Ultimately, providing he is sensible with his diet and manages to obtain some level of "normality" with his blood sugar levels, he souldn't have many problems. There's bound to be the odd instance in the future when something goes off plan, but generally it is a disease that can be controlled providing the person with it looks after themselves properly.

Some extra care would also need to be taken around operations. Including minimising risks of post-op wound infections

Richard Horne was diagnosed with it a year or so ago. Seems to have struggled with fitness and body mass but now appears to be coming into better form and his fitness has improved. I believe steve redgrave has it so it's perfectly possible to play sport at the top level with it

So Scrutes must have been playing with diabetes for a while? That could have been really dangerous couldn't it?

Not really. If he had a slow onset he could have just felt funny whilst training and playing but he'd pretty quickly know something serious was afoot. In training and matches his muscles would put the call out for glucose which it uses for energy. The glucose gets into the muscles via insulin. His body wouldn't have been producing sufficient levels and his body would keep producing glucose. He would have lost weight dramatically too as the body would break down the muscles first as it's the easiest thing to burn for energy.

I remember when I first got diabetes. I was playing football for Warrington Town and turned up for training. They made us do shuttle runs on an astro turf. I remember feeling hot, then my ears ringing then waking up in hospital with the Doctor showing my Mum how to inject insulin into a banana Apparently there had been a week inbetween where I'd been in bed ill and losing weight before I was finally diagnosed but I had no recollection of that.

It depends how much weight and condition he lost before the diagnosis was confirmed. If he lost a lot it could take him a while to get back into shape as it takes a good few months for the body to settle down properly. Scrutton has the advantage of being a professional so one would assume he'll get top class treatment. Diabetes isn't a nice condition to have though and it will no doubt affect him. Other sportsmen have proved it doesn't need to be career ending, but it'll be a challenge for him.