Reflections on the Discovery of Insulin

Reflections on the Discovery of Insulin

(Picked from a post by Amanda Young, some additions by me)

100 years ago, a diabetes diagnosis meant a mandatory death sentence. A person could delay his death by only upto 2 years- the maximum a person could live without insulin made by his pancreas.

To control blood sugar, the only option was to undergo starvation diet- limit eating food altogether! Children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes would become comatose, unconscious, absolutely malnourished.

In January 1922, animal derived insulin was administered to a human for the first time. Imagine a room full of parents sitting at the bedside, waiting for the inevitable death of their child.

The scientists went from bed to bed and injected children with the purified extract of insulin. As they began to inject the last comatose child, the first child began to wake up! A room of death and gloom became a place of joy and hope.

This was one of medicine's most incredible moments!

Dr. Banting, Dr. Collip and Dr. Best gave the patent to University of Toronto for $1 each. Today, thanks to them, diabetes is largely a manageable disease.

All this goes on to illustrate the magic that humans have worked, the contribution of sciences that often go overlooked. We have now managed to engineer bacteria to make insulin for us!

If we really pause and think deeply, we find our existence to be truly made possible because of others. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, even our very bodies- derive their existence from others.

USAGE:

To highlight Gratitude/gratefulness, innovation and sciences, meditations/mindfulness etc