The chronic disease is estimated to affect about 140,000 Australians, and has no cure.

It is one of the most common diseases in children, and research indicates is growing in prevalence.

Tamworth’s Michael Cullen knows what affect the disease can have.

His four-year old nephew Will, who turns five in April, was diagnosed with juvenile, also known as Type1, diabetes in May, 2007.

The then three-year old got “very sick all of a sudden”, his mother said in a story in the Camden Advertiser.

Their initial thoughts were a gastric bug, but for the worse that turned out not to be the case.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation describes the disease as a “life-long autoimmune disease”.

It “destroys the body’s ability to manufacture insulin – a hormone necessary for the body to convert food into energy”.

For sufferers like Will, the only way of combating that is to artificially introduce insulin into the body.

That can involve receiving six insulin injections a day for the span of their lives, just to stay alive.

Will now receives his insulin through a pump.

The pump, or “Percy” as he refers to it, saves the daily pain of injections, but still requires constant monitoring.

It is attached to his body by a long tube inserted under the skin, which delivers the insulin.

The disposable set has to be changed every three days.

Michael Cullen said he had been trying to come up with an idea to help Will’s fight and the thousands of other children affected by the disease.

Cricket seemed like the perfect fit.

“I’ve played cricket most of my life,” Cullen said.

The game is set down for March 19 and will be staged as an Old and Past V Young and Future Twenty20 contest, with the money raised being donated to the research foundation.