I just saw this post on Facebook from a woman named Katie Beth Hand. Her post reads as follows:
“Exactly one month ago I had an islet cell transplant to cure my (previously believed to be “incurable”) Type 1 diabetes. The last month has been an adventure every day. Lots of testing, lots of bloodwork, lots of trips to Chicago! Today, I did a Mixed Meal Tolerance Test and watched as the newly transplanted islet cells kicked into gear and brought my blood sugar into healthy range without any insulin.
For most people an average, boring day. For me, it felt like I had climbed Mt. Everest. I feel blessed beyond measure to be part of this clinical trial. I truly believe brighter days are here for all T1Ds! #eledon#clinicaltrial#handfamadventures#curingt1d#diabetes.”
I know that I am too old, probably, to get into any clinical trials (reaching 60 years with T1D as of April this year), but this certainly gives me hope for you younger folks that diabetes actually may be less of a burden for you in the future.
I hold out hope for @Liam-M and all those young ones out there (and the older T1Ds also who I’m sure would still LOVE to have some years in your lives, free of T1D management), that this or some other hopeful cure happens in their lifetime. But I always harken back to this post, by @Richard157, who was diagnosed in 1945… My First 70 Years With T1D - #4 by Richard157 . I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but I also hate getting my hopes up for Liam, then having them slashed. I continue holding out hope, though!
I know. I was told in 19966 that there “probably” would be a cure “in my lifetime.” Well, 60 years later… I still am waiting. However, I am a fairly optimistic person, so my sincere prayer is that there WILL be a cure for Liam and for others that they may see a “cure” sometime soon. NEVER give up hope!
I am always hopeful!!! I do believe of all the therapies I’ve read / heard out, a few seem more promising than others. This one is promising, and the one where the beta cells are coated with a gel cover to hide them from the immune system. Lots of research into many different areas but not focusing on where the problem truly lies – with the immune system WITHOUT forcing “Immunosuppressant drugs” onto the patient…I know that’s a deal breaker for most people who have T1D because why would someone trade managing T1D for a plethora of other sicknesses and/or diseases you may get as a result of your immune system no longer protecting you as adequately as it should.
So you’ve come back in time! Tell me, did we deal with climate change? Most important, 17,940 years in the future, are they still saying a cure is five years away?
True, but if a person has one autoimmune disease, chances are he will develop others in his lifetime anyway. The immune system already is messed up, or the T1D would not have appeared in the first place. Case in point: I have four autoimmune diseases— T1D, hypothyroidism, dermatomyositis, and Raynaud’s Phenomenon. All require medication, but the other really nasty one is the dermatomyositis which causes me to be on autoimmune suppressants for the rest of my life.
So would I personally get the transplant to possibly cure T1D? In a second! Would doctors try it on me since I already am immunocompromised? Not a chance.
We each must make choices as to what works the best for us. I would have risked the immunosuppressant drugs just to avoid dime further diseases or complications from T1D. I am just glad children today may be given that choice.
Ha! Ha! I apologize for not proofreading my response better and for not getting my sticky keyboard fixed. Your response does pose some interesting questions, however. In another approximately 20,000 years, the Earth will have drifted roughly 1000 feet further away from the Sun. So mankind probably would be trying to figure out how to keep warm, especially if we have depleted all of our natural resources for heating our structures. Climate change already is causing swings in our “normal” temperatures, so imagine what it will do in 20,000 years! And as for a cure? Yes, it probably still will be only five years away!
This sounds promising! Though, I am one of those people who would not trade T1D for a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs.
I am also, like many others here, skeptical. I was diagnosed in 1990, and that was, per the organization that was then known as the JDF, the “decade of the cure”…
Tell me, did we deal with climate change? Most important, 17,940 years in the future, are they still saying a cure is five years away?
In another approximately 20,000 years, the Earth will have drifted roughly 1000 feet further away from the Sun. So mankind probably would be trying to figure out how to keep warm, especially if we have depleted all of our natural resources for heating our structures. 
Climate change already is causing swings in our “normal” temperatures, so imagine what it will do in 20,000 years! And as for a cure? Yes, it probably still will be only five years away!