A YOUNGSTER is urging people to stop by for a cuppa and help him repay an Oxfordshire hospital for its support.

Ryan O’Connor, 11, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes — the most serious kind — three years ago and since then has been a regular patient at Oxford Children’s Hospital.

Cooper School pupil Ryan and his mum Donna Clarke, her partner Craig Waldron and Ryan’s sister Freya, five, had to learn how to deal with the condition.

Recently Ryan, of Glory Farm, Bicester, has taken delivery of a £6,000 pump to help control his condition.

Now the family wants to pay back the hospital.

On Thursday, they will host a coffee morning and cake sale at the Salvation Army hall, in Hart Place, Bicester, from 9.30am-1.30pm. There will also be a raffle and face painting.

Miss Clarke, 34, said: “We spent so much time taking from that hospital we just wanted to give something back.”

Just before he was diagnosed, Ryan had been going to the toilet frequently and drinking a lot and Miss Clarke took him to the doctor suspecting an infection.

But when she described his symptoms, the GP did a blood test and Ryan was referred to hospital.

Nursery nurse Miss Clarke said: “I didn’t know the signs and didn’t know about diabetes. He constantly needed the toilet, constantly needed a drink and was very irritable.”

Teachers at his primary school, Glory Farm, also had to swot up on Ryan’s condition as he was the only child there with the condition.

The new pump means Ryan can monitor his blood sugar levels more easily and pump the required amount of insulin into his body when he eats.

Miss Clarke said: “Ryan can’t do everything his friends do without having to keep checking his blood. It is one of those things that will be with him for life.”

Ryan said: “I feel normal, but you feel you are not normal. All my friends have their dinner and go out to play, but I have to test my bloods before I can go out.”