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Revolutionary Treatment Ends Scottish Womans Battle With Diabetes
Thu, 07 Jul 2011
A woman in Scotland has received a "life changing" pancreatic cell transplant to treat her diabetes .

Kathleen Duncan, who has type 1 diabetes, no longer requires daily insulin jabs after undergoing a complex operation involving the preparation of islet cells extracted from a decease donor's pancreas. The cells were then injected into her body, enabling her to produce her own blood sugar .

She is one of the first to be treated as part of a pioneering transplant programme based in Edinburgh, which was launched in 2009.

Mrs Duncan, who has suffered with type 1 diabetes for over 30 years, said: "Before this treatment I felt absolutely helpless, as I had no awareness of my blood sugar levels or if I was about to collapse."

"I was so terrified that David [her son] would come home from school to find me unconscious that I would go out all day, knowing that if I collapsed in a public place, I would be taken to hospital."

She added: "I now have more control over my diabetes, the confidence to do everyday things and can lead a practically normal life."

"I feel extremely lucky that matching donors were found and privileged to be the first person to have this treatment."

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon, who met Ms Duncan during a visit to the cell therapy suite, commented: "This service has shown how it has the potential to transform the lives of people with this condition. The ideal is to make them no longer dependent on insulin injections ."

Around 28,000 people in Scotland are believed to have type 1 diabetes. Of these, about 2,000 experience hypoglycaemic unawareness (collapsing without warning due to low blood sugar ).
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