My Journey With Diabetes

“I no longer considered myself a person with diabetes; I was a diabetic…the disease was all that I was.” Those are the words that I chose to describe the vortex that this disease had pulled me into as I relayed my story to a reporter in 2002. Why was I inclined to expose that which I had kept hidden from friends, family and business associates for so long? It was because my reality had changed dramatically due to groundbreaking Canadian research and I now had the energy to help people understand the desperation that diabetes can cast upon a family and offer a glimpse into the freedom that scientific investigation could someday provide to everyone. In 2002 I became one of the initial group of 35 research recipients to take part in human trials of the Edmonton Protocol and it saved my life.

Despite premium care and an in-depth knowledge of this disease my body succumbed to some of the harshest complications that a doctor will foreworn a patient of. I no longer metabolized insulin properly and with an inability to control my blood sugar, complications inevitably ensued. I had developed gastroparesis, a neuropathy of the stomach and esophagus. Chronic episodes of high blood sugar caused gastroparesis; gastroparesis caused high blood sugar. It was a vicious battle that couldn’t be conquered. I suffered from constant, chronic nausea. I lost the ability to digest food and in response I reduced my diet to yogurt, protein drinks, and foods that were easily absorbed. I was informed that the nerve damage was so extensive that if I experienced a heart attack I would never feel the pain.

Within a four-year period I endured 23 eye procedures due to retinopathy. 19 of the surgeries involved laser treatments that sealed off the ...

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...onally, January 15, 2010 I celebrated the third year that I have lived insulin-independent. In 2006 I traveled across the country to the University of Alberta to take part in a new protocol that incorporated a different immune suppressant regime.

Not one day goes by that I don’t reflect on the vast appreciation I have for those who have made it their life’s work to solve this diabetes dilemma and those who so graciously signed their organ donor cards.

I have documented this amazing time in history by publishing my journey as a participant during the early days of the Edmonton Protocol, the first new approach to a therapy since insulin.

“One Step Up From A Lab Rat….a diabetic’s personal journey through an islet cell transplant” can be purchased as an e-book or soft cover at www.facade.ca. Profits from the sale of the book will be donated to research.