Former Bradford City captain talks type 1 diabetes struggles

The centre-half went up against his former club at Valley Parade on Saturday, and was a rock at the back in Barrow's 2-1 victory, but what people might not realise is what he has to go through on a daily basis.

Canavan, 32, first experienced severe fatigue and bouts of intense thirst five years ago, before signing for City, and he considered retiring before being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

To mark World Diabetes Day yesterday, the defender, who also used to play for Scunthorpe and Plymouth, told the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) that his diagnosis saved his career and that the condition need not be a barrier in top-level sport.

Niall Canavan, pictured celebrating Dom Telford's opener on Saturday, is still playing at a good level. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

He said: "A lot of questions I had about myself and my ability were answered - there was something going on.

"In that period of not knowing, I genuinely toyed with retirement. I thought maybe my body just can't do it anymore."

Less than one in 10 people with diabetes in the UK have type 1 diabetes and unlike type 2 - often induced by lifestyle factors - the exact causes of the condition are unknown.

Canavan, one of only a few England-based professional footballers with type 1, first struggled with the symptoms aged 27 when at Plymouth after returning from long-term injury.

"I told myself the thirst and the tiredness were part of the comeback," he said. "But I played my first game back, and about 30 minutes before the final whistle, I got severe cramp in both quads and both hamstrings.

"I thought 'I've never had that before'. My hydration scores also went from perfectly fine, to severely dehydrated. Nothing we did food or fluids-wise helped."

His diagnosis was only revealed after the club's medical team and then hospital consultants had carried out further tests.

"The diagnosis was a good thing for my family as well," he said. "My wife thought I was depressed.

"She knew something was off - how I was talking, how I sounded. And then within a week of being able to medicate and look after myself she said, 'right, you're back'."

Canavan has insulin injections and also uses a flash glucose monitor - an alternative to the 'finger prick' sensor - which allows his sugar levels to be tracked, and an alarm to sound if they go too low or too high.

He said players on other teams often confuse his glucose sensor for a heart monitor.

Canavan added: "It's good though, because people see it and it allows you to start a conversation about diabetes.

"I've had two diabetic hypos (when sugar levels drop too low) during games. It can be quite hard because you can't really just go down.

"So it's often a case of communicating with the touchline, and making sure they have a gel with them that they can get to me.

"Thankfully officials are becoming more understanding, they know I have something I have to deal with. But I have been questioned in the past around time-wasting for getting a gel."

Niall Canavan had to deal with his type 1 diabetes, and the struggles that come with it, throughout his time with City. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

Research suggests young people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes can often be deterred from sport due to stigma and fear of hypos.

Canavan added: "It can be really daunting, but if you are fully prepared - for a high or low sugar - and those around you know how to deal with it, then you're in the best place to just go for it.

"You've got to look at it as something you can take with you. It will be trial and error, and you won't get it right every time.

"But the last thing I'd want to hear is that kids shy away from it because they're embarrassed, or they feel different.

"I say, you are different. But in a good way. You have an incentive to look after your health, and a lot of people don't."