The only Premier League star to live with life-altering condition was once 'day away' from coma

Everton defender Jake O'Brien is the only Type One diabetic playing in the Premier League - and he has offered an insight into his remarkable story. O'Brien's body can't produce insulin, the hormone that regulates the amount of glucose in your blood.

He has a circular device on his arm linked to an app on his phone via Bluetooth that reads his blood sugar levels. The Republic of Ireland defender will take out a needle and inject the necessary insulin dose into his thigh or stomach, which can often come as a shock to his teammates.

"One or two are taken aback at first," O'Brien, who joined Everton from Lyon in 2024, said in an interview with the Daily Mail. "It can be a bit confusing.

What's he doing?'' Or maybe those who are a little squeamish, but they soon get used to it." Advert READ NEXT: Kevin De Bruyne lined up for shock Premier League return by club nobody expected Jake O'Brien was once 'one day' away from coma Having come up through the ranks at Cork City, the 25-year-old has since established himself as a solid Premier League defender under David Moyes, primarily playing as a towering centre-back but also filling in at right back when needed. But O'Brien was once almost denied a career at the top level before his journey had properly started.

While tracking glucose levels is now a part of his everyday routine, his life was put in jeopardy before his diagnosis at the age of 16. The Irishman had extreme tiredness, was losing weight, and had an insatiable thirst despite drinking eight to nine litres of water a day.

He had lost seven kilograms in just over a week, and his blood test revealed his blood sugar was 10 times what was considered stable. "I was told I was a day away from a coma," says O'Brien.

"If I had gone to sleep that night without having gone to the doctor, who knows?" The then-teenager, who had won national titles at boxing and hurling, went into hospital weighing 53kg and, by two weeks post-diagnosis, had put on 7kg before packing on another 30kg within two years. "Yeah, 30kg, I know it's not normal," he continued.

"It must have been some grocery bill for Mum, but I was motivated to put on the weight, going to the gym all the time. I was a bit naive about it all.

I never expected to have anything, but once I knew what diabetes was, I didn't wallow in it; I took it as a positive."