A TEENAGER from Winsford has had his 'life changed' by diabetes, but not in the way he expected.

Johnny Bailey has gained more than 325,000 followers on TikTok after sharing his experience with type one diabetes.

The 18-year-old was diagnosed in February 2021 and initially joined the social media platform to find others like him.

Now, his videos regularly get millions of views.

He said: “Every cloud has a lining. It’s changed my life.

“I was never into TikTok, a lot of people my age were, they were doing all the dances.

“I mainly did it as when I was first diagnosed it was lockdown and in the day I just had no one to speak to, so I took to TikTok to see if I could find any friends and I did and then my following grew very quickly.”

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Northwich Guardian: Johnny went undiagnosed for six monthsJohnny went undiagnosed for six months (Image: Johnny Bailey)

Johnny explained he initially went undiagnosed for six months, which led to him  becoming quite unwell.

He said: “The first thing you notice is you’re tired and then constantly need to go to the toilet.

“Because I was on medication at the time it sort of masked those things, so I came off it but it didn’t resolve the issues.

“I went undiagnosed for about six months and it meant that by the time I was diagnosed I was about 7st 2lb, I was that thin and just looked awful, really unhealthy.

“Once I got the blood test and it was confirmed there was a bit of relief but also this daunting feeling that I’ve got this chronic condition now.”

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On what content gets the most views he added: “The ones people can relate to and that share the unknown parts of diabetes.

“I get millions of views on my sensor change videos, I think one is about 52 million views and it’s not even just people with diabetes, people without are always commenting ‘what is this?’, ‘are you a robot?’.

“At first it was just about making a little community of diabetics but it’s turned into an educational thing now.”

With that in mind, Johnny, who is also an ambassador for Freestyle Libre, has now released an E-book, Sweet Success With Diabetes, which released at the end of last month.

“I just made sure that we stuck to the goal of helping people with diabetes, that’s why I did it," he said.

“I get so many comments from people asking how I cope and I sometimes private message with tips but I wanted to do it on a wider scale.”

Northwich Guardian: Johnny is a FreeStyle Libre Ambassador (All opinions are his own)Johnny is a FreeStyle Libre Ambassador (All opinions are his own) (Image: Johnny Bailey)

Johnny has just finished his A-level exams at Sir John Deane’s College in Northwich and is now awaiting his results.

He is planning to study immunology or microbiology at either Manchester or Keele University with the hope of finding a cure.

He added: “I was always into English and the more creative side of things.

“I was never any good at science but after being diagnosed I completely changed and science became my passion.”

And he has confirmed his TikTok won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

“That will definitely continue,” Johnny said.

“I think my channel will evolve with my day to day life.”

 

@johnnyalanbailey Sixth month of changing sensors! 💙 #t1d #type1diabetes #diabetes #t1 #GarnierUNFILTERED ♬ INDUSTRY BABY - Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow