Natasha Horne, from Middlesbrough, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last October but was reluctant to take the insulin injections she needed to manage it

A 20-year-old woman who refused to follow medical advice about her diabetes saying she 'didn't do needles' has died after suffering a suspected diabetic coma.

Natasha Horne, from Middlesbrough, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last October but was reluctant to take the insulin injections she needed to manage it.

Known as Tasha, the former school prom queen kept her diagnosis secret from her friends, missed doctor's appointments and refused to wear a medical ID bracelet to alert people to her condition.

Her heartbroken parents, Jackie, 43, and Stephen, 44, who are aiming to raise awareness of diabetes issues, said they had noticed the signs of diabetes when their daughter suddenly lost weight.

Jackie, a pharmacy manager, persuaded her to be tested for diabetes after noticing her daughter was losing weight, suffering excessive thirst and frequently going to the toilet during the night.

Within hours, on October 16 last year, she had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, as her body was not producing enough insulin to combat ketones - organic compounds which usually lie dormant but can attack the body.

While staying overnight at a friend's house on Saturday, August 22, Tasha died after a suspected diabetic coma.

Type 1 diabetes is manageable with regular insulin injections but although Tasha was cooperative at the start, she quickly retreated, saying: 'I don't do needles'.

Not even a special cannula, meaning she didn't have to insert the needle directly into the skin, helped her take the injections.

Jackie and rig worker Stephen said the weight loss, and the compliments she received, clouded her judgement and made her mistakenly wary of putting weight back on by injecting.

Her mother, who had wondered if she was using drugs, said: 'For a girl covered in tattoos and piercings, she hated needles. And she was stubborn. If she didn't want to do something, she wouldn't do it.

The heartbroken parents of 20-year-old Tasha, pictured with boyfriend Jordan Rich, said their daughter 'thought she was invincible' and had said that she 'didn't do needles'

What are Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes? Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that causes the insulin producing cells in the pancreas to be destroyed, preventing the body from being able to produce enough insulin to regulate blood glucose levels. If the amount of glucose in the blood is too high, it can, over time, seriously damage the body's organs. Patients diagnosed with type 1 are treated with insulin. It has sometimes be referred to as juvenile diabetes, but the term regarded as outdated because the condition can develop at any age. Type 2 diabetes is a condition which causes a person's blood sugar to get too high. Over 4 million people in the UK are thought to have some form of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is associated with being overweight and you may be more likely to get it if it's in the family. The condition means the body does not react properly to insulin – the hormone which controls absorption of sugar into the blood – and cannot properly regulate sugar glucose levels in the blood. Excess fat in the liver increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes as the buildup makes it harder to control glucose levels, and also makes the body more resistant to insulin. Weight loss is the key to reducing liver fat and getting symptoms under control. Advertisement

'But we were getting so concerned because of the rapidity of the weight loss. She lost around half her body weight in two to three months. And she went from a size 22 to a size 10 in six months but she didn't see it as wrong.'

Stephen said: 'She just didn't understand the severity of the consequences of not taking it.'

With her body short of the insulin it needed, she had three life-threatening DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) attacks.

After the third on June 8 this year, a desperate Jackie tried to persuade her by taking her five-year-old sister Scarlett to see her in hospital.

Jackie said: 'I told her, you are not leaving us to sit with your little sister to tell her that her best friend is no longer here. She said she was going to change.

'But she was 20 - she'd passed the legal age, so it was all on her. We didn't get the phone calls or letters to say she was missing medical appointments. And apart from physically pinning her down, we couldn't do any more to get her to take it.

'And hardly any of her friends knew. She wouldn't wear her medical ID bracelet so if they were on a night out and she fell ill.

'She always thought it would never happen to her. She just didn't want to accept what she had - she was willing to take the risk.

'She thought she was invincible - she lived life her way.'

She said: 'She was opinionated but she'd do anything for anybody. If friends didn't have money for lunch at school, she'd buy it for them because she'd rather go without.

'Everybody knew her. She did what she did and people knew the way she was.'

Mourners attending her funeral on Thursday will get a Diabetes UK 'blue ribbon' to wear as the family aims to raise funds for diabetes research.

Jackie said: 'We've got to focus on this now - even if it's to help the younger generation appreciate the seriousness of it, and not to feel it's something to be embarrassed about.

'It's all about acceptance and education. You can get it any time in life and it doesn't have to be hereditary. Even adults are approaching me saying 'I didn't know you could die from diabetes.

'We tried everything we could. Now, while we can't bring her back, we can help make people aware.'