The Biggest Prize in Diabetes; has been Around Almost a Hundred Years!!!!

I love my local 7-11 store.  Russ, and his family, have been the owners of this community gathering for years and years.  I’m convinced that this store has replaced the ‘old-time’ drug stores.  The stores which became the gathering place for community and idle chit-chat.

Something happened in this store a while back that stuck with me.  With the recent flurry of activity around the multi-state lottery powerball which gave away a winning jackpot of $564 million dollars (and unless you bought your ticket in Texas, Puerto Rico, or North Carolina; you are not one of the 3 winners) I thought I would share that story today and how it made me take pause and reflect.

Anyhoo, I was in the store a while back and a man approached the counter and asked how much the jackpot was in the weekend NY State Lottery?  The answer, was like, 16 million.  He said, “Okay, thanks, forget it.”  And walked out the store.

Like 16 million dollars was not enough for him to play?

Seriously?

It always struck me odd when I think we have entered state of expectancy.  Things rise to a level that ‘high jackpots’ are not only expected, but will not be played unless it reaches that plateau.

I read an article recently about the bionic pancreas being the closest thing to a cure in the world of diabetes.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am a HUGE FAN of all the activity around the Bionic Pancreas……I can hardly wait to see it come about and it is my hope that Ed Damiano, and his entire team, receive all of the funding to achieve Ed’s end goal.

But to me, the closest thing this world has ever done “as the best thing” next to a cure, has been and will always be the discovery of insulin.  Now I have been at this a long time and I remember the same things stated about the insulin pump.  The bionic pancreas and artificial pancreas, will all be tremendous assets in this work of diabetes.  But make no mistake about it, without insulin, EVERYTHING is a moot point.

My comments are not, in any way, to diminish how much I want to see devices come into our world and help make better management of diabetes a reality.  But I came into the diabetes world on mixing insulins and giving shots.  I hear parents in absolute panic when their pumps break.  I always say to myself, what is the big deal, give your child a shot and move on until the new pump arrives.

It is a clear picture to me that we have relied ‘on the higher jackpot’ in our management of our kids.  In our house, a shot is not a big deal…….because there was a time that is all we knew.  Years from now, when we are all on an APs or Bionic Pancreas, will that become such the norm that the absolute horror will set in when you have to ‘go back’ to a pump, much less a shot; should they malfunction.  They are a machine and any machine CAN malfunction.

So just like the lottery which can rise to great heights, let’s be grateful for the wonderful things we DO HAVE and have had for a long time.  Never take for granted what is right in front of you.    If you do not believe me, talk to my good friend and actor Jim Turner.  He will tell you what he felt the first time he took insulin after diagnosis.  I never forgot Jim’s story.

More than anything, I want a cure for my kids.  I also want the best management tools that can ever be created.  But when we really talk about THE BEST of something, make no mistake about it………the best thing our kids ever got, and it was almost a hundred years ago…………….was insulin.

Thank you both; Banting and Best. (And if you do not know who they are, and you have a child with diabetes, do not do another thing until you find out.)

I am a diabetes dad.

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