• Anne Seidel
http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=B36728B4-2A5E-7B6E-1C499BA485E56B75
Anne Seidel has been living with type 1 diabetes for 35 years. Due to the severity of her symptoms, she met the eligibility requirements to receive an islet transplant on February 5, 2003 . Soon after the procedure, her blood sugar levels stabilized, and she no longer requires the insulin injections that had dominated her life.
• Ellen Berty
http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=01BF4D40-2A5E-7B6E-18E1F6D34ACFE2CA
A type 1 diabetes patient since age 13, Ellen Berty experienced hypoglycemic reactions and occasional loss of consciousness. She received an islet transplant in a clinical trial in June 2001. After the procedure, she no longer required insulin injections, and says, "I now have the freedom to ski all day or bike 40 miles without having to eat all the time. I don't have to make constant adjustments ... 40 years and 22,000 insulin shots later I can joyously shout from the rooftops, 'I used to have diabetes!!!'"
• Sigrun Schwendinger
http://www.niddk.nih.gov/federal/advances/2002/sigrun.pdf
Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 7, at age 57 Sigrun Schwendinger was the first person in the United States to successfully undergo the Edmonton protocol. Schwendinger did not feel unduly hampered by her diabetes during the early stages of the disease, but during and after menopause at around the age of 50, she began to experience sharp blood sugar fluctuations. She also developed nerve and eye diseases, including cataracts. After the procedure, she no longer requires insulin shots. Although she still takes immunosuppressants, her dosage is gradually being reduced.
• Dana Shields
http://www.jeromegroopman.com/edmonton.html
Dana Shields enrolled in a trial for the Edmonton protocol in October of 2001. Doctors weaned Shields, who had received a kidney transplant earlier in life, from her conventional immunosuppressive regimen and put her on the Edmonton cocktail. In May of 2002, Shields received the first of two islet transplantations from a cadaveric donor. Although she experienced some feelings of nausea after the procedure, her condition quickly began to improve. She no longer requires insulin, has an abundance of energy, and feels “free for the first time in thirty years.”
• Bob Teskey
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/islets/trans/bob.htm
Four years ago, diabetes patient Bob Teskey began to experience fluctuating blood sugar levels and occasional loss of consciousness. Doctors found a major blockage in his heart, also a consequence of his diabetes. Teskey enrolled in the Edmonton protocol trial in April of 2000. Thanks to the procedure, he was able to gain freedom from insulin injections. He describes the effects of taking the immunosuppressive drugs required for post-procedural care as being “delightfully benign.”
