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WATCH: World cup rugby star lifts lid on daily battle with diabetes - 'Never let it hold you back!'
Oct 8, 2025
Rugby World Cup star Henry Slade has opened up about living with type 1 diabetes, which he was diagnosed with at 18 after catching the flu.Speaking about the Tackle Diabetes campaign with Sanofi, he said there is a lot of misunderstanding about the disease, stressing it is an autoimmune condition, not caused by eating sugar.Mr Slade said: “Although you’ve got type 1 diabetes, as long as your blood sugars are under control, you’re no different from the next person. Just live life how you want to do it. Never let it hold you back from doing what you want to do.”He added: “There’s quite a bit of misunderstanding about it. That’s why I’m here, to talk about the Tackle Diabetes campaign and to explain that it’s not because of eating too much sugar, it’s actually an autoimmune disease.”WATCH THE CLIP ABOVE FOR MORE
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0:00
Morning, Henry
0:01
Good morning. Dawn was almost going to give you a round of applause there, did you see? I was going like, just earlier on, I didn't realise, I thought many of our guests you were down the line
0:09
but you were actually on our sofa. Actually here. That's the handsome man there to your left-hand side, not the one over onto your right-hand side
0:15
We're surrounded by handsome men this morning, Ellie. Henry, I mentioned Gary, and I know it's probably the most bizarre intro that you've ever had
0:22
I'm sorry about that. But how has this affected you as a player
0:26
I mean, did it affect you as a boy? Has it affected you professionally
0:30
It doesn't seem to have done. Well, I've only had type 1 diabetes since I was 18
0:35
But, yeah, it has affected me in quite a big way. And obviously since having it, you don't really realise
0:39
But there's quite a bit of a misunderstanding about it. And that's sort of why I'm here, I guess
0:45
to talk about the Tackle Diabetes campaign with Sanofi. And it's affected my life in a lot of ways
0:51
But trying to tell people that it's not because I've eaten too much sugar
0:54
it's actually autoimmune disease. You know, that's the reason I'm sort of here and talking about it
1:00
But, yeah, it's a challenging thing to have to do. Well, did you always have it or you only found out when you were 18
1:07
Because a lot of people, I mean, like me, we wouldn't know that all of a sudden you have it
1:11
especially someone as fit and also as young as you were at the time. Yeah, I got it from the flu. I had the flu when I was 18
1:17
And then me and my mate at the same time, we both had diabetes, developed diabetes over the same week or two
1:24
Right. He was a bit earlier had all the symptoms urinating a lot losing weight thirsty He came back into school and everyone had a finger prick test Everyone was just testing out and I found out the mind was a bit high
1:36
I caught it early, really. Do you find that it has affected your games, your game playing
1:43
Yeah, it affects every part of your life, really. There's a lot of things to have to worry about
1:50
Everything affects it in a different way. How do you manage it then when you're playing
1:54
I wear a continuous glucose monitor on my arm, which sort of tells me what my motor levels are all the time
2:02
But it's just basically the thing is that it doesn't go away
2:06
It's 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that's one of the things that probably makes it so hard
2:12
But, yeah, it's just a tricky thing to... What about the actual campaign itself then
2:17
because I know you're launching a campaign today. What is it? Is it to make people more aware of it
2:22
the fact that more people should be tested for it, that there are so many people that maybe have it and don't even know that
2:27
Yeah, so basically it's called Tackle Diabetes, playing on the rugby side of things, I think
2:33
See, like your work. See it already, yeah. So Tackle Diabetes campaign with Sanofi
2:38
and it's basically to, because there's such a misunderstanding about the disease and about how you get it
2:45
to sort of quash those misunderstandings and the stigma around it, but also to make people aware that there now a finger prick test that not available yet in the NHS but you can apply for it and it free from ELSA and Tidra the two companies doing it And they basically finger prick test
3:05
and you can see whether you are going to develop diabetes. So for me, when I heard it straight away
3:12
I thought, brilliant for parents to be able to test, if they've got diabetes, to be able to test for their kids to see
3:20
because they still don't know if it's... So is there a chance you can genetically pass it down
3:25
Well, the science has always changed on that, I think. I don't know exactly, but apparently sometimes it can be
3:33
but it also can't be as well. So I'm not sure that no-one really knows. That's why it's quite important, I think, to be able to have a test
3:40
which can tell you if you're going to develop it or not because then you can sort of prepare
3:45
But the message is that if you manage it like you're doing, you can still do and achieve amazing things, even in sport
3:51
Yeah, exactly. The sort of outlook I've always tried to have on things really is
3:56
although you've got type 1 diabetes, as long as your blood sugars are under control, you're no different from the next person
4:01
So my sort of message I've always given to fans and people that come up to me is just live life how you want to do it
4:09
and never let it hold you back from doing what you want to do. Now, before we let you go, I've got to ask you about Lewis Moody
4:15
Lewis Moody's a friend of ours who's been on the show as well before, so it was a big shock to us. I think it was a big shock to everybody, wasn't it
4:20
about finding out about him with motor neurone disease. I mean does this make it Obviously so many players that look up to Lewis and love watching him and that have known him there the big shock there But also I guess there may be a worry within rugby
4:35
that they think that this may be you in the future. Yeah, well, yeah, it's obviously devastating news for Lewis and his family
4:44
I mean, it's a horrible disease. I wish him all the best with his fight against it
4:51
I know he's an incredibly tough competitor on the field and I know he will be an incredibly tough competitor against his disease
4:58
So I'm wishing him all the best with that fight. But yeah, horrible, horrible thing to have to go through
5:04
But like you say, it is a worry. Obviously, there's no long-term science on players post-rugby
5:15
So obviously, there's been a few players it's happened to over the last few years
5:20
and, yeah, it definitely is worrying, but hopefully it's not going to happen to too many more
5:28
On a lighter note, though, Exeter Chiefs, much better this year than it was this time last year
5:34
Are you enjoying your rugby at the moment? Yeah, we couldn't have got much worse than last year, sorry
5:39
But, yeah, this year's been a breath of fresh air. Ever since we came in for the start of pre-season
5:44
boys have been in a much different energy. Everyone's excited and raring to go
5:49
We've got a good team together this year, so I'm excited about it. Good. Henry, really good to see you
5:53
Thanks so much for coming in and best of luck with the campaign. Thank you. And you get a great message as well
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