Launceston's Zac Gourlay was lethargic and ill for about a week before he was rushed to hospital in December by his parents and later diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
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Months later and the Riverside High School student's father and grandfather are already jumping on their bikes to raise awareness and funds for the disease.
Adam and Ken Gourlay will join more than 30 other riders as part of this year's Diabetes Tasmania's PolliePedal.
They will take off on an about 300km ride on Friday from St Helens before finishing on Sunday afternoon at Richmond, with $60,000 already raised to support Tasmanians living with the disease and their families.
They will stop in at schools and also provide educational programs throughout the ride.
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The funds support Tasmanians living with type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes, educational programs, advocacy, camps and family days.
Zac's father, Adam Gourlay said the recent diagnosis of this 13-year-old son had been an eye opener for the family, as he was the first in the family to be diagnosed.
"It's been quite an eye opener as to what's actually involved in it. The constant monitoring, assessing foods, keeping an eye on his blood sugar levels, as he has a monitor fitted, which alerts our phones ... to let us know what is happening during the day," he said.
"We initially just thought he was crook and it sort of went on for a week. We were feeding him just high energy stuff to keep his levels up, which of course was the wrong thing to do with diabetes, but you don't know that until you find out.
"We were very lucky ... [my wife] carried him into A&E and one of the ambulance officers recognised that he was in an actual diabetic coma and raced him straight into the emergency ward."
The event began in 2006 and is in its 16th year.
State government minister Guy Barnett, who has type 1 diabetes, helped create the fundraising ride with Diabetes Tasmania and will ride in the event again this year.
He said they had already reached a fundraising record, with more than $60,000 raised so far.
"This year we have a record number of participants in the ride, so we have 30 plus participants," he said.
"I thank all those participants for being involved and for me the 16th year, I reckon it will be the best ever.
"There are tens of thousands of Tasmanians with diabetes type one and type two and of course gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
"For kids with type one, it's very challenging indeed, so I've asked all Tasmanians to reach out and to provide that support."
The donate to the cause, visit www.justgiving.com/campaign/polliepedal2021.
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