Hanging prominently on the wall of Dr. James Shapiro’s office is a child’s drawing of a man in a white lab coat looking out the window at a city skyscape. “This is a picture of me looking out the window when diabetes is cured and now there is no work to do,” Shapiro says with a smile. “And I certainly look forward to that day.”
Shapiro, director of the Clinical Islet Transplant Program at the University of Alberta, received the drawing from a thirteen-year- old patient, Cole Byers, expressing
his hope for his doctor to
find a cure for diabetes.
Cole, who was diagnosed
as an infant, is one of
300,000 Canadians who
live with Type 1 Diabetes
and require insulin to
stay alive.
The need for a cure is
compelling: Diabetes
affects about 400 million
people in the world.
In Canada alone, three
million people live with
the disease. Every year,
another quarter of a
million Canadians are
diagnosed. The disease
is expected to affect one
in three Canadians in less
than a decade.
Cole’s parents, Andrew
and Marilee Byers, are
also hoping Shapiro and his Edmonton-based team will find the cure. Their faith in the team prompted them to offer themselves as “human guinea pigs,” participating in human trials to advance their research.
Neither Andrew nor Marilee has diabetes. When their son was diagnosed at 14 months, they had to learn quickly about the disease. Since then, they’ve become advocates and mentors to other parents. When offered a chance to help Shapiro’s research they didn’t hesitate.
“It’s amazing what they’ve been able to do with diabetes research and what lies ahead to help Cole and other young children living with diabetes,” says Andrew Byers. “I’ve heard Dr. Shapiro speak several times and every time, it brings chills.”
Shapiro leads the pioneering team behind the Edmonton Protocol, a method of transplanting pancreatic islets for the treatment of Type 1 Diabetes. It focusses on diabetes mellitus, which doesn’t produce enough insulin and leads to high levels of sugar in the body. Since 2000, when the Edmonton Protocol was published in the New England Journal of
Medicine, the team has
completed 592
transplants at the
University of Alberta and
now collaborates with 30
centres in Europe,
Australia, the United
States and Israel. The
Edmonton Protocol has
resulted in more than
2,000 islet transplants
around the world.
Jason Turner, 46, of
Edmonton, received his
first transplant 12 years
ago after the
complications from his
diabetes became
dangerous, especially his
inability to feel his low
blood sugars.
He has since received
two more islet
transplants, including one in April, because his islets were no longer producing enough insulin.
“I was so sick prior to transplant, I had socially pulled back from everyone. Friends, family, work,everything. I was so ill that I think I would have been lucky to see 40, and probably not have seen 50. I am now 3 1/2 years from 50, and I feel great. Healthier then ever!”
The team is also working on four areas of research involving stem cells and cell regeneration that promise to dramatically improve the treatment of diabetes and perhaps lead to a cure.
Pioneering medicine: Dr. James Shapiro’s goal is to cure diabetes
By Judy Piercey, Pen and Lens Communications