dLife today aired a mini-documentary on the history of insulin.  I was
aware of most of the history but when put in this abbreviated format it
seemed to make more of an impact for some reason.  It reminded me that
if I had lived at the turn of last century, I probably wouldn't have
lived.  How tragic it must have been for someone to be diagnosed as
having diabetes (called Type 1 today) back then as there was nothing
that could be done except to starve in hopes that some sort of
treatment might be found.

Fortunately Dr. Banting had a crazy theory and made his way up to
Canada. With the help of several other men the first crude insulin was
born.  The problem then became mass distribution.  In came a man from
the then small Eli Lilly company who took the ball and ran with it.  A
Danish man named August Krogh, whose wife had diabetes, returned to
Denmark with the permission to mass produce the insulin and created
Nordisk.  From these tiny miraculous acorns...

Flash ahead to the present.  This Type 1 feels a bit guilty complaining
about the baggage that goes with being a diabetic and the seemingly
never ending wait that goes with hoping for the cure that was promised
to me 20+ years ago when I was diagnosed.  Putting things into
perspective I don't have it so bad after all.  The advancements have
been substantial with testing, hardware, and medicines that are
available to me that those many many people from the past would have
given anything to have.

What will the future of diabetes bring?  No one knows.  Conspiracy
theories aside, I can't help but think that some crazy thinkers like
Dr. Banting and others who are not just in it for the money will
continue to push the envelope of discovery.  Hopefully the cure will
come soon and people in the future will watch a documentary about how
this unheard of (to them) disease, for both Type 1's and Type 2's,
was eradicated in the early 2000's.

If and when then that day comes we can all meet here one last time to
give a big middle finger up to diabetes, type in the words "gone out
of business", and turn the cyber light switch off on a.s.d.

Best,
Kurt