A teenager from St Albans has raised more than £10,000 for a diabetes charity.

Shaun Foley was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2013, and since then has spearheaded a fundraising campaign to raise money for Diabetes UK - who run support groups and research into Type 1 diabetes.

The 14-year-old said: "I was told I had Type 1 diabetes in February and just a few days after I started feeling ill and tired, with stomach pains.  

"It was a life changing event and has been a struggle.

"I continue my day-to-day activities but wish I could be like other kids and not think about everything I eat and how exercise will affect me."

Last month members of Shaun’s family, including his grandmother, got tattoos with a design inspired by the teenager linked to the number two, the date in February last year that he was diagnosed.

Shaun, a pupil at Sandringham School, also organised a sponsored waxing of other family members and friends, including Shaun’s Dad, brothers and St Albans Mayor Geoff Harrison, the sale of a t-shirt with the "2" design and a charity night of music and food at Old Albanians Rugby Club in September.

Shaun added: "I really wanted to do something to help the 21,000 young people in this country who like me have had their childhood compromised by Type 1 diabetes.

"I would really like the money we raise to go towards current research into an artificial pancreas which would change the lives of people like me dependent on injecting insulin."

Shaun helped to create a design based on the number 2 to wear on a diabetes ID tag - a necklace which identifies that he has Type 1 diabetes in case of any medical problems if he was on his own.

For more information about Shaun’s fundraising effort visit his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shauns-Fundraising-Page/