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March 4, 2020

On March 11, 2020, advocates living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) will share with Manitoba Members of the Legislative Assembly their experience living with T1D and the importance of extending insulin pump coverage to people of all ages. Currently, in Manitoba, to qualify under the current insulin pump program, you must be under the age of 18.

Our Manitoba Lobby Day has been fundamental in securing government funding for T1D research and raising awareness. The delegates raise their voices as advocates, representing the millions of people living with T1D, and are empowered to continue to use their voice to make change. 

We’re so happy to share our 8 finalists with you – meet our 2020 Manitoba Lobby Day Delegates!

Click to view video submission	Tyler Polonuk Age: 17 From: East Saint Paul, MB
	Ashlynn Argo​ Age: 16 From: Sunnyside, MB
Click to view video submission	Julia Hird Age: 19 From: Winnipeg, MB
	Ellen Karr Age: 71 From: Winnipeg, MB
Click here to view video submission	Leah Wiebe Age: 54 From: Steinbach, MB
	Jenna Basson Age: 34 From: The Pas, MB
	Spencer Christie Age: 19 From: Winnipeg, MB
Click here to view video submission	Noah Silvaggio Age: 17 From: Winnipeg, MB

Take part in our lobby days by signing up to become a JDRF Advocate. Your voice will help advocate for T1D research and raise awareness about the T1D community.

For more information about JDRF 2020 Manitoba Lobby Day visit breakthrought1d.ca/advocacy

March 3, 2020

*Note: as of March 3, JDRF Canada welcomes the release of the Standing Committee on Finance’s report and its recommendations to address the diabetes epidemic. Read the press release here*

JDRF President and CEO Dave Prowten testified recently in front of the Standing Committee on Finance as part of their 2020 Pre-Budget Consultations. Also appearing on JDRF’s behalf was Angie Sullivan, parent of a child with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

The pair delivered a powerful and compelling testimony in support of our 2020 budget recommendations as well as a new CIHR proposal from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to celebrate the 2021 anniversary of the discovery of insulin by creating a $100 million diabetes research fund.

Check out their testimonies below!

March 4, 2020

She was the youngest person in the room, and her presentation was met with resounding applause from the entire audience. Fourteen-year old Anne Pettigrew made an impressive and compelling presentation at last month’s Ontario pre-budget consultations in Scarborough.

Anne presented JDRF’s #AccessforAll recommendation to the Minister of Finance Rod Philips,  Minister for Seniors and Accessibility Raymond Cho, and local Member of Provincial Parliament Aris Babikian by telling her story of how the continuous glucose monitor (CGM) has saved her life on more than one occasion. 

“My family is able to make sacrifices to choose to afford this [device] for me. But not everybody has that luxury. Type 1’s who cannot make the sacrifices still need the technology, still need health security and still deserve life. And CGM’s save lives.”

What is the pre-budget submission process and why is it important?

Ahead of the Budget cycle each year, Ontarians are invited to submit their thoughts, ideas, and recommendations to inform the provincial budget. The government provides several opportunities where individuals, businesses, and organizations can engage in this process. Written submissions, oral presentations, survey responses, and general comments are accepted in late Fallearly Winter, before the official Budget is released in the Spring. This is an important opportunity to tell the government directly about what matters most to the over 96,000 people who live with T1D in the province.

Recognizing this as an opportunity to have our collective voice heard, JDRF also submitted a written recommendation to ensure our request is considered.

Anne’s remarks not only indicated the importance of how advanced glucose monitors help people live better, but how this investment makes financial sense for the government as well. Severe hypoglycemia alone costs our Ontario health care system more than $5 million annually, adding to the hallway health care problem. Funding these technologies addresses an unmet medical need and is crucial to ending hallway medicine by reducing the economic burden that diabetes imposes on our healthcare system.

Anne’s full presentation below.

Now it’s your turn. Tell your representative how provincial funding for CGM and FGM devices will help people with type 1 diabetes live healthier, easier, safer lives. Click here to send them a message now – and join the movement.

                                        This blog is sponsored by

February 27, 2020

Fifteen-year-old Kamilla Kozuback recalls fighting back tears as she successfully landed her final jump at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games this past January, placing eighth as one of the youngest snowboarders in the competition to ever represent Canada. 

It was only two years before this when she was given her first dose of insulin, receiving an official diagnosis of type 1 diabetes (T1D), and asking the doctor if she’d ever be able to snowboard again.

“It was the first thing I wanted to know…whether I’d be able to snowboard or compete again,” she said. “It was all I could think about.”

With the support of her mother, Brigitta – who as a nurse was able to diagnose her daughter after observing her symptoms back in 2017 – Kamilla did everything in her power to take control of her disease, ensuring that nothing would get in the way of her dream of being a competitive snowboarder.

“She was not afraid… after we got home from the hospital, she grabbed the syringe from my hand and said ‘let me do it,’” her mom recalls. “That was when I knew she’d be okay.”

Kamilla’s life did a 180 degree turn that July 1^st. She was met with incredible amounts of adversity, but says she saw it as an opportunity to work harder towards her aspirations of being a professional snowboarder. She woke up every morning, trained at the gym – lifting weights, maintaining her cardio – all with her new diagnosis of T1D on her back.

With her mother being a nurse, she was able to talk openly about her disease and track her blood sugar levels with her support – monitoring how different activities affected her diabetes.

It wasn’t until her trip to Switzerland in January, though, where she felt her hard work and determination paid off. Kamilla had been selected to represent Canada in the Youth Olympic snowboarding games.

“I was hit with a wave of happiness, I don’t even have the words,” she said. “It was the most amazing thing, to be there, to compete and be one of the youngest girls in the competition.”

All while managing T1D.

“I tell Kamilla all the time, it’s ok to have bad days, it’s ok to be upset. But turn that into motivation…I was so happy to see her land that jump and compete in Switzerland…It was unbelievable.”

Today, Kamilla continues to work on managing her disease alongside her mom, and a Syberian Husky who also has T1D.

“I want to be in the next Olympics,” she says. “I’m going to keep working hard, and training all I can…despite my diabetes.”

February 10, 2020 

 

January 25, 2020

­­For years, researchers have been trying to find the potential causes for type 1 diabetes (T1D), the autoimmune disease in which the body destroys insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, resulting in insufficient insulin secretion and high blood glucose levels. The origins of the disease are still unknown, although research indicates that both genetics and the environment play a role.

Dr. Suheda Erener, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, is currently investigating whether micro-RNAs – a family of single-stranded molecules which are key regulators of gene expression and beta cell function – can predict the development of T1D.

She and her colleagues are profiling the micro-RNAs of children with recent onset diabetes. According to their research, some micro-RNAs play critical roles in T1D and may help establish which individuals are at risk of the disease.   

Micro-RNAs have emerged as important regulators of gene expression in the last two decades and changes in micro-RNA expression within tissues have been detected in many disorders including cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Identifying which genes and signaling pathways these micro-RNAs modulate may not only increase scientists’ understanding of the underlying causes of T1D, but also open up novel therapies to stop beta cell destruction and/or enhance their survival and function. As well, the accurate prediction of T1D using micro-RNAs as biomarkers in individuals with no symptoms may allow for the preservation of beta cell function early during the course of the disease, delaying its onset or curing it altogether.

For more informative articles on health and type 1 diabetes, visit our JDRF Blog. 

November 25, 2019

The death of beta cells results from an autoimmune attack that is characteristic of type 1 diabetes (T1D). This can lead to low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), complications, and even unawareness among people with a severe form of the disease.

Sernova Corp., a regenerative medicine company based in London, ON., has shown in its JDRF-funded clinical trial that its cell replacement therapy, Cell Pouch^TM, can restore insulin production among people living with T1D.

An alternative to drugs, the Cell Pouch^TM system involves an implantable medical device that forms a highly vascularized environment in the body for the housing, function, and long-term survival of therapeutic cells, which release proteins or hormones to treat chronic diseases like T1D.

The detection of C-peptide, a biomarker of insulin production, in the bloodstream of the trial’s first patient is another important success in the field of beta cell replacement therapy – a strategy which aims to replace lost or damaged beta cells with insulin-producing beta cells in people with the disease. Supporting this area of research is also one of JDRF’s most critical undertakings, with an investment of more than $140 million to date.

JDRF is funding Sernova Corp.’s phase I/II clinical trial in participants with T1D and hypoglycemia unawareness based in Chicago, IL., USA. For more information on this study, please visit the clinical trials registry. For more details on recruitment and enrollment, please click here.

Beta cell replacement therapies aim to provide insulin on demand from cells implanted in the body and have the potential to eliminate insulin therapy and liberate people from the burdens of managing T1D for months or even years at a time. The shortage of donor beta cells and the need for strong immunosuppressive drugs, however, make beta cell transplantation an impractical solution for most people.

JDRF is heeding the call, advancing beta cell replacement technologies that can restore glucose control and deliver long-term insulin independence, without suppressing the body’s immune system and the ability to fight infections. Sernova Corp. is moving another step forward in the development of its Cell Pouch^TM and the technology will hopefully be approved in the coming years.

This month, twenty years ago, a pioneering clinical trial in Alberta marked a major advancement in islet transplantation for the treatment of type 1 diabetes (T1D).

On March 11, 1999, the Edmonton Protocol – a new method of transplanting pancreatic cells to treat T1D – saw its first participant receive a transfer of islet cells from a donated pancreas into their liver at the University of Alberta. The production of insulin by the donor’s islet cells helped the transplant recipient regain control of his blood sugar levels, thereby eliminating or greatly reducing the need for insulin injections. According to an article published in The New England Journal of Medicine on July 27, 2000, the seven people who took part in the study became insulin-independent for the 12 months following the procedure.

In collaboration with the Medical Research Council of Canada, JDRF supported the preclinical studies that led to the Edmonton Protocol. It also established nine JDRF Human Islet Distribution Programs in 1998, including the University of Alberta, which provided the islet cells for the procedure in Edmonton. Dr. James Shapiro, a JDRF-funded investigator and a multi-organ transplant surgeon at the institution, led the team that introduced the Edmonton Protocol and optimized the medication given with islet transplants.

Today there is a growing demand for organ donors. In order to succeed, a minimum of 300,000 cells derived from the same pancreas are needed for a transplant. A donated pancreas contains about one million islet cells and researchers are currently able to isolate up to half of them, making more people eligible for the procedure.

“The Edmonton Protocol was a milestone achievement that significantly changed the T1D landscape,” says Dave Prowten, president and CEO of JDRF Canada. “The past 20 years have seen more people benefitting from islet transplantation and JDRF is proud to invest in this promising initiative that is bringing us one step closer to a cure.”

Despite the lifelong need for immunosuppressive drugs to prevent graft rejection, islet transplantation has been shown to greatly improve the quality of life for individuals with a severe form of T1D, while freeing them from multiple daily insulin shots that can lead to other problems, such as hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). As a result of new and improved methods to isolate islet cells, transplantation rates are expected to grow in the future until a cure for the disease is found.

Today JDRF continues to build on the Edmonton Protocol and Dr. Shapiro’s work. We are not only funding beta cell replacement therapy research, but also exploring the genetic modifications of transplantable stem cells and scaffolding technologies (encapsulation) to improve islet graft outcomes among people without the need for immunosuppressive drugs.

To learn more about beta cell therapy, click here.

For more informative articles on health and type 1 diabetes, visit our JDRF Blog.