Since launching in March 2019, thousands of people from across Canada have been rallying behind the Access for All campaign and demanding affordable and accessible coverage of advanced glucose monitors.
In just seven months, you have made incredible progress! Here’s a roundup of what you’ve helped accomplish.
On September 24, 2019 we announced an exciting new alliance with Beyond Type 1, aimed at getting more information, more resources and more support to our type 1 diabetes (T1D) community.
Written by: Rylee Hauger, lives with type 1 diabetes
I wake up to my alarm going off. I roll over and check my phone, “12:00 am blood sugar test,” I sigh and grab my test kit. Just another day in the life. After pricking my finger, I watch the blood fill the test strip, awaiting the infamous countdown that appears on the screen. I feel fine, I don’t feel high nor low; I say a silent prayer that my blood sugar will read in range. “5.6” reads the tiny screen, “Thank goodness.” I whisper to myself before pulling the blankets back over me and falling back asleep.
In 1971 and 1973, Krayna Golfman and Mitch Garfinkle’s lives changed dramatically when their sons, David and Jimmy, were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Along with other families living with the disease, they embarked on a lifelong mission to find a cure. Thus began the journey that led to the founding of JDRF Canada.
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"Just because my pancreas is faulty, doesn’t mean my taste buds are," observes Paula, a Toronto Health healthcare professional living with type 1 diabetes.
Stem cell-based research has the potential to play a key role in developing a cure for type 1 diabetes (T1D). JDRF Canada is delighted to partner with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes to announce a new funding opportunity that will see $6M awarded to investigators driving stem cell-based therapies for T1D. This funding opportunity is part of JDRF and CIHR’s ongoing Partnership to Defeat Diabetes first announced in 2017.
ViaCyte Inc., a privately held regenerative medicine company, is seeking residents of Alberta to participate in a promising JDRF-funded clinical trial in Edmonton. The purpose of this research is to determine the safety, tolerability and efficacy of PEC-Direct™ (also known as VC-02), an investigational therapy that may provide blood glucose control in a similar manner to what a “replacement pancreas” would do by producing insulin after it is surgically placed.
The first few months after Mirella Gallo’s 11-year-old daughter, Isabella, received a type 1 diabetes (T1D) diagnosis were very hard for her. “We were in shock and had no idea what it meant for her or our family”. With the support of Isabella’s nurses and doctors, the family learned how T1D would impact her day-to-day routine and her future. “We came to the realization that my daughter’s life would never be the same and that until a cure was found, she would be insulin dependent,” says Mirella.
Beta cells normally produce insulin, a chemical messenger that helps move sugar from food sources into cells throughout the body, which use it for fuel to stay alive.
We’re very excited to announce the winners of the Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects Award Program for JDRF! Through the generous support of Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects, the Program is awarding $5,000 dollars each for a total of $105,000 to help students living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) with tuition and book costs as they pursue post-secondary education in a university, college or trade school.
Insulin has been the subject of many news stories recently as the high cost of insulin and other drugs has led to two US federal initiatives aimed at allowing the bulk importation of lower cost Canadian drugs.
JDRF has written to the BC government asking that all BC residents living with type 1 diabetes have affordable access to the Medtronic MiniMed 670G and the Tandem t:slim X2 by adding them to the province’s list of approved Tier 2 devices under the province’s insulin program.
