Matthew’s Story


Matthew was born in 1997 weighing in at 9lbs 14oz, a big boy considering my wife Alison is small (OK let’s get this out of the way at the beginning, yes of all the women I could have met and married, I had to marry someone with the same first name as my last name. But she kept her maiden name of Davies, and she found it rather amusing at the time, what can I say, I loved her). The delivery was traumatic to say the least, Matthew was very wide and his shoulders got trapped. We went from having one mid-wife and myself delivering him to a whole team of mid-wife’s and doctors taking over. After what seemed like a life time he was delivered and given the all clear.

Eight months later we moved from Swansea in Wales, UK to Anchorage Alaska USA, for a one year teaching position at The Martin Luther King Jr Career Centre through the Full Bright Teacher Exchange program. Six months went by and Matthew seemed to develop what the doctors thought was the flu, we were told it would pass in a few days. One week later we were really concerned, he had no signs of getting better, in fact he was losing weight, eating very little and drinking loads. To me it was diabetes, my brother Michael has been a type 1 diabetic since he turned 13 years old, now in his 50’s, he thought the same as we did. We took Matthew back to see the doctor only to be told he would get better soon, this time we refused to accept the doctor’s diagnosis of Matthew’s condition and insisted on a blood glucose test being conducted, refusing to leave the doctor’s office until this test had been done.

Within minutes of the results, Matthew was being rushed to the emergency ward. He was so dehydrated that his veins had collapsed; the doctors could not find a vein large enough in his arms or legs for an intravenous drip that they had to insert a needle in the veins in his head. You can image what we were going through at that traumatic time. We stayed the night at the hospital and to our amazement, he seemed to be back to his normal self by the next morning, he was totally transformed from a weak, gray in color baby to the smiling boy with rosy cheeks that we all knew and loved. (We were later told that he would have gone into a coma that evening if we had not brought him into the doctor’s office, that day. His blood sugars were so HIGH and he was so dehydrated). He was the youngest person to be diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in the state of Alaska. After a week in hospital Matthew was released, we were so grateful to the hospital and the nursing staff, but as you know if you are a diabetic that was just the beginning. We had to learn how to give Matthew his two injections a day, count his carbs, and check his blood glucose, as well as a list of other things to do when dealing with diabetes.

16 ½ years later, Matthew is now 18, today he is healthy, happy and doing well at college, we moved from Swansea in the United Kingdom 12 years ago for me to teach and later become the dean of culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The whole family are happy to be here and are enjoying the experience of living in America. Matthew is now on the insulin pump, which has made his life a bit easier. He and his two brothers, Jonathan and James also enjoy helping me in the kitchen. He eats a normal but nutritious diet, I’m so proud of him and how he is coping with his diabetes.

We don’t see his condition as a problem, but as a challenge, that if controlled properly will make Matthew a much stronger person as he grows and takes responsibility for his own health and wellbeing. Changing our eating habits also changed my interest in food to more nutrition focused, which took me to my present position of director of culinary nutrition. I’ve built my career on only working with the very best people and very best food products in my 36 years in culinary arts. I’m glad to say this continues as work out of one of the best research centers in the world, the North Carolina Research Campus, dedicated to the advancement of nutrition, agriculture and human health. Scientists from universities, industry, government and non-profit organizations are finding new ways to promote healthy lifestyles and to prevent, treat and cure the most prevalent diseases of our times like cancer, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s and other diet and lifestyle-related disorders. I really believe after 36 years in culinary, I’ve finally found my true calling in life, working with whole plant based foods, developing, healthy delicious recipes that everyone can use at home. Most of my recipes have evolved from my home kitchen, cooking alongside my three boys, working together as a family, chatting and laughing as we make delicious, healthy meals that we all enjoy.


92 responses to “Matthew’s Story”

  1. Thanks for sharing Mathews story , I had forgotten how serious and life threatening the situation had become , you guys were away at this time and you must of all gone through an horrendous time ,Thank God you insisted on staying put and demanding those tests ,
    Love reading your Blog Mark x

    • Mother’s love and mothers instinct saved the day – yes a horrendous time, but we are all stronger for it – If I could take Matthews diabetes away nothing would stop me from doing it – unfortunately I cant, but he’s a credit to Alison and the family as he deals with this illness each day with a smile on his face.

  2. I have been browsing online more than 3 hours today,
    yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
    It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all website
    owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will
    be much more useful than ever before. http://yahoo.org

    • Thank you Will, Hope you continue to enjoy my blog and try my recipes – wishing you a fabulous day – have fun – Mark

  3. I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself
    or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my own blog and
    would like to find out where u got this from. appreciate it

    • Thank you I would check out the American Diabetes Association and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, good luck, stay healthy

  4. Normally I do not read article on blogs, however I would like to say that this write-up very pressured me to check
    out and do it! Your writing style has been surprised me.
    Thank you, very nice article.

  5. Hello there, I found your site by the use of Google at the
    same time as searching for a comparable subject, your
    web site got here up, it seems great. I have bookmarked it
    in my google bookmarks.
    Hi there, just was alert to your blog through Google, and
    located that it is truly informative. I’m going to watch out for brussels.
    I’ll be grateful if you happen to proceed this in future.
    Lots of other folks might be benefited out of your writing.
    Cheers!

  6. Very good website you have here but I was curious about if you knew
    of any message boards that cover the same topics talked about in this article?
    I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get advice
    from other experienced individuals that share the same interest.
    If you have any recommendations, please let me know.

    Thank you!

    • Thank you I would check out the American Diabetes Association and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, good luck, stay healthy

  7. What’s up all, here every person is sharing these
    kinds of know-how, so it’s good to read this weblog, and I used to visit this web site everyday.

  8. Hi, i think that i saw you visited my website so i came
    to “return the favor”.I’m attempting to find
    things to improve my site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!

  9. Appreciating the time and effort you put into your website
    and in depth information you provide. It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed information. Wonderful read!
    I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your
    RSS feeds to my Google account.

    • Thank you for your kind words of encouragement, I’m really enjoying working on my blog and hoping it will be of benefit to people who would like to cook more at home and learn more about the food we eat. Have a wonderful day

  10. Hello There. I discovered your weblog the usage of msn. This is a really neatly written article.
    I will make sure to bookmark it and return to read extra of your useful information. Thank you for the post.
    I’ll certainly return.

  11. Thank you for sharing this story. I’m certainly fed up with
    desperate for relevant and intelligent commentary on this subject.
    Everyone these days seem to go to extremes to either drive home their point of view
    or suggest that everyone else in the globe is wrong.
    thanks for your brief as well as relevant understanding.

    • Thank you for your kind words, Matthew’s story is one of hope and understanding, he knows he has a condition that needs constant attention, but he also knows its his life to make the most of, I’m proud of him and his brothers for doing so well in life and enjoying life.

  12. I believe everything composed was actually
    very reasonable. But, think about this, what if you
    were to write a killer post title? I am not saying your information is not solid., however suppose you added something
    that makes people want more? I mean Matthew’s Story | Chef Mark
    Allison is a little vanilla. You could look at Yahoo’s front page
    and watch how they write post titles to get people to click.

    You might add a related video or a related picture or two
    to grab readers excited about what you’ve got to say.
    In my opinion, it could make your posts
    a little bit more interesting.

  13. Wonderful goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you
    are just extremely excellent. I actually like what you have acquired here, really like what you’re saying and the way
    in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it smart.

    I cant wait to read much more from you. This is actually a wonderful website.

  14. I’m no longer positive the place you are getting your info, however great topic.

    I must spend some time learning more or figuring out more.

    Thanks for magnificent info I used to be searching for this information for my mission.

  15. Thank you for enjoying my blog, I’m new to this also, so just do your best and I’m sure it will be great – good luck

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *