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Diabetes and Adoption
Rachel and her husband chose to adopt a baby instead of meeting the challenges of handling a high risk pregnancy and Rachel’s type 1 diabetes at the same time. She shares their thought process and ultimate happy ending about the decision to bring a child into their lives.
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Chris Matthews Makes Time for Diabetes
Hosting Hardball on MSNBC and The Chris Matthews Show keep Chris Matthews working long hours. But Matthews got a lesson in priorities and made some life changes when he was diagnosed with type 2.
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A Chihuahua with Diabetes
Olivia and her dog both have diabetes and today they comfort and encourage each other through the rigors of dealing with the disease. Plus, find out what it means when your domestic pet is diagnosed with diabetes.
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Smoking and Diabetes
Smoking has severe effects on your diabetes and your health. Learn why diabetes and smoking are an especially bad combination and get some tips from the experts on how to quit.
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Continuous Glucose Monitors
CGM is a relatively new technology, but the information it provides is invaluable. Find out what CGM offers and whether it could help you.
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Latest Support Groups Articles
Sponsor a Pig Now, Help Insulin Cell Transplants Later
Jan 24, 2008
Sponsor a pig and you can help a unique collaboration between Spring Point Project and the University of Minnesota to begin transplanting insulin-producing islet cells from pigs to humans within the next two years.
Minneapolis-based Spring Point Project is a non-profit organization that raises "biosecure" pigs under ultra-clean conditions. By 2010, a clinical trial conducted the University's Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation will take islet cells from the pigs and transplant them to human beings.
The hope is that the cells will begin producing insulin, essentially curing type 1 people with diabetes by restoring their bodies' ability to produce the hormone.
Until then, Spring Point Project must spend $50 per day to shelter each pig - a cost of $36,500 per pig over the next two years. That's why the organization is asking for donations under its Sponsor a Pig Program. Donors can arrange to give at levels ranging from $50 (supports a pig for one day) to $18,000 (supports a pig for one year).
Dr. Henk-Jan Schuurman, Spring Point Project's CEO, explains, "The animals must be housed in a highly specialized environment maintained by professionals who are trained in animal health care. The pigs eat special food, drink purified water and breathe filtered air."
The organization's decision to raise "medical-grade" pigs came in the wake of a discovery by Dr. Bernhard Hering, scientific director of the Diabetes Institute for Immunology & Transplantation at the University of Minnesota, who documented a medical breakthrough in the journal Nature Medicine in March 2006.
Dr. Hering's key finding was that the transplantation of islet cells, harvested from the pancreas of a pig, yields a long-term cure for diabetes in monkeys. The next step was to see if the same effect could take place in human subjects.
For more information on Spring Point Project, go to its website, www.springpointproject.org. For information on sponsoring a pig, see www.springpointproject.org/images/spt0026-PledgeForm.pdf.
Categories: Islet & Pancreas Transplant, Support Groups, Type 1 Issues
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