There was a fascinating and moving account on BBC’s Today programme on Monday 10th January, concerning the development of the use of Insulin in treating Type1 Diabetes. It is well worth listening to the interview, with Dr Rachel Besser, of Oxford Children’s Hospital, on Catch up if you have not already heard it. The interview described how 100 years ago a 14 year old Canadian boy, Leonard Thompson, was treated with Insulin. This had not been done before and Leonard’s father consented to its trial use. At first the experiment did not work but over the next 12 days or so the Insulin was refined and Leonard’s condition began to rapidly improve. At the time this was miraculous. He had been drifting in and out of comas but now, wonderfully, regained consciousness. Prior to the successful treatment of Leonard the diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes was pretty much a death sentence with a life expectancy of just 2 years.
The interview described how the use of Insulin has and continues to transform the lives of many, including for instance, Theresa May, the former prime minister.
Here at Pulse we recognise the way in which medical advances enable individual to live healthy and productive lives. And this enables us to provide them with Life Insurance and other forms of Insurance Protection.
We continuously take into account medical developments. With Diabetes significant advances have been made with the monitoring of Blood Sugar Levels but there are other developments. The Times carried an Article in Times 2, by Damian Whitworth.
He interviewed Jubie Wigan, the mother of Aliena. The article refers to the improvements in the monitoring blood sugar levels, which are hugely important in improving the quality of Life of Type 1 Diabetes patients. It refers to the way in which Aliena will soon be fitted with an artificial pancreas. This is a pump that infuses insulin under the skin. A glucose monitor is also fitted and a link to a computer program tells the pump how much insulin the patient requires.
By coincidence last year, Pulse was able to provide term life insurance to an Applicant who had had a pancreatic transplant (which was done alongside a kidney transplant), the consequence of which was that his Diabetes was eradicated.
Our ability to provide Life Insurance for Diabetics will always take the quality control into account. Both Diabetes Type 1 and 2 are frequently associated with other medical conditions including High Blood Pressure and Obesity.
National Obesity Awareness Week runs from the 13th January and our next post will deal with our successes in providing Life Insurance for Applicants with Height/weight issues.
For more information or to request a quote, please contact our team:
[email protected] or call 01280 841430.
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