It was her experience as the mother of a diabetic that prompted Katie Young to organise a walk for the disease.

One Walk, formerly known as the Walk to Cure Diabetes, is in its fifth year in Dubbo.

“A lot of the families who have children with diabetes, they feel a bit isolated, so this is a way for them to get together and talk to other parents and kids who have diabetes,” Ms Young said.

If Ashleigh had to test her sugar levels at school while other students were around she could get bombarded by curious students, so she often isolated herself to avoid it, Ms Young said.

It was one of the worst parts of the disease 12-year-old Ashleigh said.

“I hear stories of kids who get really sick from it when they don’t [test themselves] and it kind of urges me to do it more and stay well. I don’t like the thought of staying sick for that long,” she said.

Most of the public attention was given to type 2 diabetics, the mother said.

“It’s different from type 2, it’s an autoimmune disease. There is no cure, there’s no ‘have a diet and some exercise and you’ll recover’, and people often perceive that to be the case,” she said.

Sleeping habits, eating, exercise, socialisation- it all changed for the Young family when Ashleigh was diagnosed.

“Most of the time Ashleigh has to be checked at midnight and 3am, so it’s kind of like going back to having a new born baby again and getting up in the night,” Ms Young said.

“Eating every meal become different. We have to count the carbohydrates in her food, do a fingerprint test, test her sugar, calculate how much insulin she needs to cover that meal. Every meal changed.”

Even doing exercise has to be monitored because using energy interacts with the insulin, Ms Young said.

“Basically your whole life changes drastically. And it’s not just hers it’s the whole family because everyone has to learn it and everyone has to know it.”

Check in for One Walk will start at Sir Roden Cutler Park at 9am Sunday, with the five kilometre walk to begin at 10am. It’ll be $5 to buy a wristband to participate.

The walk will be followed by sausage sizzle in the park, as well as a jumping castle, face painting and games.