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At the age of 25, Douglas Cairns was carrying out his boyhood dreams to fly jets in the Royal Air Force when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and lost his flying career. Douglas changed careers and became a fund manager. He worked in London before moving to Thailand in 1996 where he helped establish and run a joint venture for Schroder Asset Management Limited. Throughout his new career, Douglas' passion for flying never left, and he flew with other instructors as safety pilots at local flying clubs whenever possible. In 1999, Douglas learned that it was possible to fly in the USA on an unrestricted private pilot license assuming medical requirements can be met, and in 2000 he regained the freedom to fly after meeting the medical requirements. In 2002, Douglas embarked on a round-the-world flight, "Diabetes World Flight" (www.diabetesworldflight.com), to raise awareness of diabetes and raise funds for diabetes research. After writing a book about his world flight and carrying out three years of sponsored talks to the diabetes community in the USA, Douglas returned to London in 2007 and to the fund management industry. He still flies regularly in the USA and in June 2009 plans to carry out a record-breaking flight in the USA. Douglas will speak about his flying experiences with diabetes.
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