YOUNG Ethan McElvaney was the star of the show at a weekend charity fun day in aid of diabetes care.

The five-year-old suffers from unstablised diabetes mellitus, and is repeatedly in and out of hospital as doctors have so far been unable to control his condition.

He suffers from seizures, is forced to miss school often and has to have four injections a day to keep his blood sugar controlled.

His mother, Jacqui McKeown, said that since being diagnosed with diabetes at the age of two, her son had been greatly helped by a continuous glucose monitoring system, which records his blood sugar levels 280 times day.

Doctors can use the machine's readings to better understand the care he needs.

However, at a cost of £3,000 to buy, and an additional £2,000 to run every year, the juvenile diabetes department at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, has only one machine for all young patients.

So, Ethan's family held a fun day and charity auction on Saturday in a bid to buy additional machines for the unit.

"The machine has been a great help to us, as it has helped doctors to understand and see what is happening to Ethan's body during the day and night, to help them better stabilise his condition," said his mother.

"The machine is loaned out to different families at a time, but because the department only has one, it is very difficult.

"Unstablised diabetes is very debilitating, so these machines are very helpful.

"We have raised at least £5,000 with the charity day, with more to come, which could buy one or two machines."

About 1,000 people attended the fun day at St Peter's School field, in South Bank, which was followed by a disco and auction.

Ms McKeown and Ethan's father, Peter McElvaney, of Park Avenue, Teesville, said the day was a massive success, and the money raised had exceeded their expections.

She said: "We got to meet a few more diabetes families that we hadn't met before, which was really nice and, hopefully, the money raised will help more people."

On Wednesday, Ethan's friends at Teesville Infants School will take part in a sponsored run for the cause.

To make a donation, send cheques, payable to the Children's Diabetes Trust Fund F117, to the Juvenile Diabetes Unit, James Cook University Hospital, Marton Road, Middlesbrough.