Diabetic to share success story
By Kapono Dowson
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Virginia woman who has benefited from a new treatment for diabetes will share her story with a Honolulu audience tomorrow night.
Ellen Berty, 53, suffered from juvenile diabetes for 40 years and had taken an estimated 22,000 insulin shots before being selected for a National Institutes of Health program for islet cells transplant. That was in June 2001, and she hasn't had an insulin shot since.
Ellen Berty is a beneficiary of new treatment for diabetics.
"We wanted to bring Berty in to give people something tangible to see in terms of a cure for diabetes," said Majken Mechling, executive director of the Hawai'i Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. "I wanted them to see that all the research we're doing is why we're so close to a cure."
Berty will appear at the chapter's annual meeting, which runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Blaisdell Center exhibition hall's O'ahu rooms. The meeting is open to the public and free, but seating is limited. Call 988-1000 for reservations.
Berty, who works as an educational specialist, is writ-ing a book titled, "I Used to Have Diabetes."
She was diagnosed at age 13 with Type 1 diabetes. Three years ago her diabetes became life-threatening and she began to experience blackouts. That's when she received the cell transplant, which is in the clinical trial stage.
Cells are harvested from a healthy, donated pancreas and given to a patient through a simple IV into the patient's pancreas.
In the past two years 75 people have received islet cells transplants. Of those, 95 percent continue to be free of the need to take insulin shots. The foundation helped raise money to cover the costs for 55 of the 75 recipients, including Berty.
Mechling said that clinical studies will require 10 to 15 years to track long-term results. Once the treatment has passed clinical trials, it can be made available to the public.
"What we're doing now is sending a powerful message to renew people's hope," Mechling said. "We're still looking at a few years, but we know it's right there."
A chronic, debilitating disease, diabetes affects every organ system and can lead to kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack and stroke.
Diabetes affects as many as 95,000 to 100,000 people in Hawai'i, Mechling said.
