RSS 2.0 FeedThursday, October 27, 2011, Weekly editorial
Honoring his memory
Remembering Bill Uhlinger.
Schoolchildren in classrooms all over this area likely remember the late Bill Uhlinger, who died recently of pancreatic cancer. He was the big Teddy Bear of a guy who visited their schools, often bringing his horse, and told about another Teddy, rough-riding President Theodore Roosevelt, who owned a summer home in Oyster Bay that is now a national museum.
Many local schoolchildren also have classmates who are Type 1 diabetics, learning to manage their disease so they can live normal lives. If they cannot manage to hold insulin fluctuations in check, they will be at risk later in life for all kinds of health problems, including pancreatic cancer.
So for their sake, and to honor the memory of Bill Uhlinger, we are asking our readers to take a moment, visit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International website and sign the artificial pancreas petition.
On December 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will issue guidance that will determine the speed with which an artificial pancreas reaches patients in this country.
The petition states, “We ask that the FDA adopt outside clinical recommendations allowing short term in-hospital evaluation of artificial pancreas systems followed by outpatient trials no more than three months long.”
FDA obstacles have kept a low glucose suspend device, the precursor to the artificial pancreas, from being available to patients in the U.S.
The artificial pancreas is considered the most revolutionary advance in the treatment of diabetes since the discovery of insulin. It would allow people with Type 1 diabetes to maintain tight control of blood glucose levels, reducing the risk of life-threatening fluctuations and helping manage their disease.
This is important. Please take a minute to help make it happen.
