Islet cell transplant trial outcome ‘major milestone’ toward cure for diabetes

When Amanda Smith learned at the age of 25 that she had late-onset Type 1 diabetes, she considered the diagnosis a death sentence.The nurse, from London, Ont., had a particularly dim view of the disease because she grew up watching her mother struggle with it. Her mother would slur her words and lose consciousness when her blood sugar bottomed out. Once, Ms. Smith’s grandfather had to break a window to reach her mother, who was passed out in her home holding a banana she had tried to consume to raise her blood sugar.