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T1 refugees

  I think you have identified a particularly important, and rather uncomfortable, contrast. Eva Saxl's story is remembered as an extraordinary example of human courage and ingenuity in the face of persecution. But there are people alive today who are facing an equally frightening predicament: fleeing war, persecution or violence while carrying a condition that makes uninterrupted access to insulin essential for survival. And the answer to your question is quite shocking. Yes, people with type 1 diabetes are making dangerous refugee journeys. Yes, some have died because they lost access to insulin. And yes, there are documented cases of children dying during attempts to reach safety. There is also a considerable amount of evidence from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). I have found one particularly heartbreaking case that is directly relevant to your research into Eva Saxl. 1. An 11-year-old Syrian ...
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Lawrence

  I've found the original article. It is a primary historical source, not simply a later recollection. Original 1940 publication identified Wartime Precautions for Diabetics Author: R. D. Lawrence Published: 7 September 1940 Journal: British Medical Journal Volume 2, Issue 4157, pages 316–317 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.2.4157.316 Original bibliographic record:  PubMed+1 Find the original BMJ article View publication details and PDF link What did Lawrence advise? His guidance, as reproduced and discussed by Professor Robert Tattersall in his historical article Diabetes and War, included six particularly important recommendations. 1. Keep a month's insulin supply at home. Local supplies could be disrupted by bombing, transport difficulties or shortages. 2. Carry insulin and a syringe when travelling. People might be unable to get home in time for their next injection. 3. Carry identification stating that you have diabetes. This was es...
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Remembrance in insulin, Ava

  When insulin ran out: the woman who made her own The discovery of insulin in 1921 transformed diabetes, but having discovered a life-saving treatment did not guarantee access to it. During the Second World War, insulin supplies were disrupted across occupied Europe. In Germany, insulin was rationed. In the Netherlands, pharmaceutical supplies became so scarce that doctors were forced to restrict prescriptions. One of the most extraordinary stories comes from Eva Saxl, a young Czech woman who fled Nazi-occupied Prague with her husband Viktor in 1940. They eventually settled in Shanghai, where Eva was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. When Japanese occupation intensified and pharmacies closed, her access to insulin disappeared. After a friend died from contaminated black-market insulin, Eva and Viktor decided to make their own. Using a medical textbook describing the original experiments of Banting and Best, they set about extracting insulin from animal pancreases. Cows and dogs were...
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Eva Saxl

  In 1940, 19-year-old Eva Saxl fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia with her husband, Victor. They settled in Shanghai the same year Eva was diagnosed with  type 1 diabetes . She began insulin therapy after collapsing at the dinner table. As Japanese occupation intensified, pharmacies closed and legal insulin supplies vanished. After a friend died from contaminated black-market insulin, Eva refused that route. Instead, the couple found “Beckman’s Internal Medicine,” read how Banting and Best had extracted insulin, and decided to try. Money and materials were scarce. Eva and Victor knitted stockings to fund water-buffalo pancreases, borrowed a small lab, and produced a brown insulin extract. They tested it on rabbits, then accepting the risks of contamination and unknown potency, Eva tested it on herself. It worked. A clinic for their community Victor took the first vial to a nearby hospital and treated two diabetics who were close to death; both survived. The Saxls then set up a...
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Eva fled animal pancreas

  1940: fleeing Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia Eva was born in Prague in 1921. She and her husband Viktor married in 1940, shortly after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. They fled Europe and eventually settled in Shanghai. Eva was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Shanghai. Initially, she obtained insulin from a local pharmacy and was able to manage her condition. Then the war caught up with them. 1941–1942: insulin disappears Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Japanese authorities tightened their control over Shanghai's International Settlement. Pharmacies closed, and legal access to insulin disappeared. There was a black market, but the insulin being sold was not necessarily safe. One of Eva's friends died after using contaminated black-market insulin. Eva and Viktor faced a terrible choice. Without insulin, Eva would die. But using contaminated or incorrectly manufactured insulin could also kill her. They decided to make their own insulin...
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Military and diabetes

  November is a month of remembrance, but it is also Diabetes Awareness Month. On 11 November, we remember those who served and died in war. Three days later, on 14 November, we mark the birthday of Frederick Banting, whose work with Charles Best changed the lives of millions of people living with diabetes. It is an interesting coincidence. Because when my great-grandfathers served in the First World War, insulin had not yet been discovered. A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes was, for all practical purposes, a death sentence. By the time my grandfather served in the Second World War, insulin had changed that. But surviving diabetes and being fit enough to serve in the military were two very different things. The US Army's medical history records 68 deaths attributable to diabetes during the Second World War. A separate investigation identified 33 active-duty soldiers who died in diabetic coma. They ranged in age from 18 to 38, and most had been in the Army for less than a year. Twenty-...
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November diabetes awareness month after ChatGPT

  I've kept the personal and emotional heart of your original post, because that is what makes it compelling. I've tightened the language, improved the flow and made the scientific descriptions more accessible without losing the sense of excitement about what research might achieve. I've also made a few important scientific distinctions: some developments are established treatments, some are newly available, and others are still experimental. That's worth making clear, particularly when writing about something as important as type 1 diabetes. I've included recognisable public figures from sport, acting and politics in the second-to-last sentence, as requested. Type 1 diabetes was once a death sentence. Unlike type 2 diabetes, it is not caused by diet or lifestyle. Nobody develops type 1 diabetes from eating too many sweets. There is currently no cure. But what is remarkable are the advances in research, treatment and technology that are changing the outlook for peop...
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