BLOG: My patients, my heroes — a type 1 diabetes milestone
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Susan was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes half a century ago, at age 2 years. Management in the decades since has certainly changed, yet she has thrived.
“Congratulations,” I said to her during her last clinic visit.
Susan looked at me, a bit surprised. She was not sure exactly what I was congratulating her on.
“You now deserve Joslin’s 50-year medal,” I added.
“Tell me about that,” Susan said.
Susan was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the early 1970s, when management options for the disease were still evolving. Insulin was still made from animals, with only two major formulations, NPH and regular insulin. There were no insulin pumps. There were no continuous glucose monitors.
When a child is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes — or in Susan’s case, a toddler — it creates huge burdens on the child’s family.
Having a child with type 1 diabetes in a family poses great challenges in many ways. The child must be very carefully monitored. Dietary changes have to be made which perhaps impact the rest of the family members.
The challenge is to treat glucose excursions and keep them in a normal range or close to normal, to avoid future complications. These include microangiopathic effects on vision, kidneys and nerves as well as macrovascular complications.
When type 1 diabetes hits a high school student or a college student, that also is a shock to the person and his or her family. Coping with the demands of type 1 diabetes is so difficult in such a young individual.
People with type 1 diabetes and their families should thus be celebrated.
This year, Susan is celebrating 50 years of type 1 diabetes without any diabetic complications, neither microvascular nor macrovascular. All her preventive medical tests and exams are up to date, including a dilated eye exam: No diabetic retinopathy.
“No diabetic changes in the retina, whatsoever?” I asked.
“None,” she said.
I was so pleased to hear that.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
“I took the disease seriously, but I lived my life as normally as I could,” Susan said.
We downloaded Susan’s insulin pump and sensor data. Her HbA1c was in the 6% range.
Then, Susan asked about the Joslin’s medal.
I explained it to her.
Joslin’s medalist awards are detailed on the website. They state the Medalist Program began in 1948 when the team at Joslin first began awarding medals to people who had been living with diabetes for 25 years. The program was the vision of the organization’s founder, Elliott P. Joslin, MD, and served as an incentive for those committed to good, although challenging, diabetes care. As more and more people began living longer, healthier lives with diabetes, Joslin expanded the program. In 1970, the team began awarding a 50-year bronze medal. Joslin presented the first 75-year medal in 1996 and the first 80-year lifetime achievement award in May 2013. Since 1970, Joslin has presented more than 5,000 50-year medals.
Joslin Diabetes Clinic also offers medalists the opportunity to enroll in the Joslin’s Medalist Study, to assess the development of severe complications, such as retinopathy, nephropathy, and cardiovascular diseases in people with diabetes.
This idea is very exciting since the findings can benefit millions of people with diabetes to prevent or stop the development of devastating eye and kidney complications.
Susan was so excited about Joslin’s medalist award. As we mark Diabetes Awareness Month and World Diabetes Day on Nov. 14, we celebrate people like Susan, living each day as best they can with type 1 diabetes. Certainly, she deserves a medal, big time!
Collapse