Last August 17 our seven-year old boy became one of the 40 kids in the U.S. diagnosed with diabetes each day. Having the autoimmune type of diabetes (Type 1, or Juveline Diabetes), his body no longer produces the insulin needed to take sugar from his blood to be used or stored. Now our family acts as his pancreas; we constantly check and log his blood sugar readings, his carbohydrate intake and administer the insulin shots he needs throughout the day.
While injecting insulin is not a cure, it is far, far better than the alternative faced prior to its introduction in the early 1920s. While its delivery systems are becoming refined, and similarly, its chemical efficiency, the basics of successful Type 1 diabetic maintenance apparently have not had a "miraculous leap forward" since the Jazz Age, let alone a cure. Always closer, but a cure is due, tout de suite.
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