Phoenix, AZ — (SBWIRE) — 05/11/2012 — Despite stringent U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations for prescription medications, thousands of people are seriously injured or killed by dangerous drugs in the United States each year. one Arizona law firm is standing up for victims’ rights and fighting back – and winning. Goldberg & Osborne, an Arizona personal injury law firm, has so far helped recover monetary compensation for hundreds of people who took Seroquel® and were diagnosed with diabetes or a diabetes related medical condition. Seroquel®, an anti-psychotic drug approved by the FDA to treat symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, is also used to augment the treatment of depressive symptoms non-responsive to traditional therapy. Seroquel® is manufactured by drug maker Astra Zeneca and has been linked in scientific research to conditions such as type 2 diabetes, diseases of the pancreas, and a variety of other serious and irreversible medical conditions.Adequate warnings about all known risks of drugs are important to allow doctors and patients to make informed decisions about medical treatment. When pharmaceutical companies fail to warn about the known risks of their drugs, patients who have suffered injury may have the right to seek compensation. Lawsuits filed against Astra Zeneca, the manufacturer of Seroquel® contained such assertions. Additionally, if a company manufactures its drugs under unsafe conditions or fails to publically reveal all relevant information about their drugs, it may be financially responsible to those who suffer as a result. about Goldberg & OsborneGoldberg & Osborne is a law firm dedicated to helping injured people. for over 23 years, Goldberg & Osborne has represented individuals who lack the resources and voice to fight for themselves in personal injury cases. Goldberg & Osborne is currently accepting cases for victims of many different dangerous drugs and medical devices. for more information, visit 1800theeagle.com or contact Goldberg & Osborne at 1-800-THE-EAGLE (1-800-843-3245).

McALLEN — Valeria Garcia, 16, of Brownsville has been given a second chance at life after overcoming a malignant tumor in her liver. the thin girl had a tumor the size of a basketball close to other important organs, putting her life at risk.

After Garcia made several trips to San Antonio, Dr. Jose Almeda of University Transplant Center was able to remove it successfully.

“Valeria is this year’s medical miracle,” Almeda said.

As Garcia’s mother noted, making those trips was a challenge.

“We had to leave our jobs,” Maria Lara said. “We left Valeria’s twin brother here, too, and it was difficult.”

But now, patients with liver and pancreatic tumors may need only one trip to San Antonio thanks to a collaboration announced Thursday between Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg and University Transplant Center of UT Health Science Center of San Antonio. that means they can forego the extra travel — and travel expenses — taken on by Garcia and her family.

To treat a cancer, people need either radiation or chemotherapy treatment or surgery, or a combination of treatments, said Anabel Arellano-Rodriguez, director of Renaissance Cancer Center, which treats between 500 and 700 patients a year.

With this collaboration, patients will do their pre-treatment studies — and even their radiation and chemotherapy — here, but if they need surgery, they will travel to San Antonio, Arellano-Rodriguez said.

The symptoms to be aware of for liver or pancreatic tumors are pain, abnormal weight loss, jaundice or problems with the flow of bile going into the intestine, said Carlos Cardenas, chairman of the Doctors Hospital at Renaissance board.

The surgeries in San Antonio are performed by a team of surgeons headed by Almeda.

“We don’t really do a lot of general procedures, so you don’t want me to fix your hernia,” Almeda said. “But if you have a problem with your liver or your pancreas, (I am the person to call) because that is all we do.”

March 30, 2012|By Meredith Cohn, The Baltimore Sun

Early Friday in a small, brightly lit operating room in Johns Hopkins Hospital, a half-dozen doctors and nurses huddled over the gut of a cancer patient, quietly passing metal instruments and surgical sutures.

After more than four hours of cutting and sewing, the lead surgeon, Dr. John L. Cameron, lifted his slightly bloodied hands, thanked his colleagues and headed for the door. The 75-year-old immediately declared the complex, life-saving surgery “one of the simpler ones.”

He should know. This was Cameron’s 2,000th Whipple, a surgery that gives pancreatic cancer patients their only chance of long-term survival.

Cameron has not only greatly enhanced the odds of surviving the surgery at his own hospital, colleagues and surgeons outside of Hopkins say, but has also taught a generation of other doctors. And that has helped give some hope to those diagnosed with a disease that once was a certain death sentence.

“This has been a lifelong project of his,” said Dr. Julie a. Freischlag, chair of Hopkins’ surgery department and Cameron’s successor in the position after almost two decades. “A lot of surgeons do the operation well because he trained them. He’s probably responsible for more like 10,000 surgeries.”

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers, though it’s not as common as many other types. About 95 percent of sufferers aren’t alive five years after their diagnosis.

If they have the Whipple procedure, their five-year survival rate is closer to 20 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute. The institute estimates there will be nearly 44,000 new pancreatic cancer cases in the United States this year and more than 37,000 related deaths.

To survive the cancer, patients have to survive surgery. Since Cameron took up a scalpel in the 1970s, a lot more do.

The surgical death rate has dropped from a quarter in the mid-1980s to almost none today. The improvements have come from better selection of surgery candidates, improved anesthesia and post-operative care, and repetition, said Cameron and others familiar with the surgery.

“When I first became chair of surgery in 1984, I wanted to focus on an operation and a disease where there was a lot of room for improvement,” Cameron said a day before his milestone surgery. “That led me to pick pancreatic cancer and the Whipple.”

The pancreas is a gland behind the stomach that releases insulin to regulate blood sugar and digestive enzymes to help the body absorb food.

Symptoms of pancreatic cancer, such as pain, yellowing eyes and digestive issues, aren’t obvious, so the cancer often spreads before it’s discovered. Surgery is an option only when the cancer is caught early and hasn’t spread. The Whipple can take from four to nine hours and typically involves removing the head of the pancreas and the tumor, as well as the gallbladder, the common bile duct and part of the small intestine.

The patient death rate remains high because the cancer frequently returns. but Cameron said he views every patient as the one who will survive.

“Every patient I see I think we’re going to cure,” he said. “I tell them that and I believe it. … It’s what the patients want.”

Cameron pointed to other advances that make his job easier, such as chemotherapy that keeps cancer from returning after surgery and shrinks tumors so more patients can have surgery in the first place.

A vaccine developed by another Hopkins doctor can keep the cancer at bay, he said. And then there is also a test in the works at Hopkins and elsewhere that someday may be used — like the PSA test for prostate cancer — to assess someone’s risk for developing the disease and their need to be scanned regularly.

Cameron plans to slow his surgery schedule a bit this summer and go on the road, marketing the hospital and all it has to offer pancreatic cancer patients.

That means a change to a schedule he’s kept for decades, rising at 4:30 a.m. and arriving at the hospital every day of the week at 5:15 a.m. he typically stays until 6 p.m., except on Saturdays and Sundays when he leaves around noon.

He still plans to perform surgery two or three days a week for the next year.

That probably doesn’t mean any more time for golf or his four kids, seven grandkids or wife of 54 years, though he insisted they have not been neglected over the years. he has dinner every Sunday evening with the families of two of his children, who both work at Hopkins.

His son Andrew is a liver transplant surgeon, inspired, he said, by his father’s unwavering enthusiasm for surgery — and by a good challenge. The senior Cameron said transplant surgery is more complicated than the Whipple. It’s also frequently more successful in the long term.

But also, Andrew Cameron said, “When I was a kid, every once in a while someone would come up to my father and say you saved my wife’s life or my child’s life, and that caused me to think what he does at hospital was so wonderful.”

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Jackson Health System

Angela’s father Petrit Bushi, Angela and her mother Valbona, smile after the 6-year-old girl received a new liver, two kidneys and pancreas.

By Rita Rubin

Valbona Bushi, 28, knew even before the doctors did: her daughter Angela’s liver was failing, just as Angela’s younger sister’s had.

At first, emergency room doctors dismissed the kindergartener’s flu-like symptoms as nothing serious. but the next day the 6-year-old’s abdomen was slightly swollen. Bushi, whose 18-month-old daughter Alicia had died of liver failure just a few months earlier, rushed Angela back to the hospital near their home in Jacksonville, Fla. after tests revealed the little girl needed a liver transplant and she was referred to Holtz Children’s Hospital, affiliated with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

A new liver would save Angela from imminent death, but doctors wanted to do more — to try to actually extend her life. Angela, whose parents had moved to Jacksonville from Albania seven years ago, had been newly diagnosed with a rare, fatal genetic disorder called Wolcott-Rallison Syndrome. only about 60 cases of the disorder – which causes infant-onset diabetes and liver failure, as well as bone fractures, intellectual impairment and frequent infections — have been reported. only one of those children lived into young adulthood. It had killed Angela’s younger sister and damaged Angela’s organs.

On December 29, in an unprecedented multiple-organ transplant on a child, Angela received a liver, two kidneys and a pancreas, doctors said.

 The operation – the first time a transplant has been used to treat the disorder —  “might offer some hope for these children with this rare syndrome, that life can be prolonged, hopefully in a very meaningful way,” Dr. Andreas Tzakis, transplant surgeon, told msnbc.com Thursday. Tzakis is the chief of the liver and digestive tract program at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

A viral infection, the kind most kids easily bounce back from, caused Angela’s liver failure, said Dr. Olaf Bodamer, director of the pediatric genetics program at Holtz Children’s Hospital. In children with Wolcott-Rallison, a protein doesn’t function normally. When patients contract a virus, their cells are unable to clear the resulting waste products, Bodamer explained. “Theoretically, any organ could be affected,” he says, but the liver, pancreas and kidneys are most vulnerable.

Angelad was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as as a baby, but, since her transplant, is no longer diabetic.

Her post-operative course “was tougher than expected,” says Tzakis. but she recovered and was discharged from the hospital on Feb. 23.

Now, Angela can’t wait to return to kindergarten which she had attended for only two weeks before becoming ill, her mother said.

“Every day she says, ‘I miss my school,’” Bushi says. Angela’s return to the germy world of elementary school will have to wait until she’s more stable, but Tzakis has “guarded optimism” that the transplant operation will halt or slow the normal course of her disorder.

“they saved my daughter’s life,” Angela’s mother Valbona told msnbc.com.

Pune: A 48-year-old woman from Tandulwadi village in Baramati who died of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) at Deccan’s Sahyadri Hospital has become the first victim of swine flu after a gap of more than a year of zero deaths.

Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer, confirmed the death stating that the woman was admitted on March 10 with respiratory distress.

“The onset of symptoms started on March 8 as she reported cough and breathlessness. on March 10, she went to a private hospital in Pune and was later shifted to Sahyadri Hospital. A sonography showed a mass near pancreas and doctors suspected she had cancer of pancreas too. Patients with pre-existing medical conditions have low immunity and that’s why severity of infection is greater in their case,” said Awate.

Besides the death, five patients are in critical condition on ventilator support at various hospitals. The swine flu count is rising in the city with ten more people testing positive for H1N1 virus, confirmed district civil surgeon, Dr V B more.

The total number of people who tested positive for H1N1 infection since March 5 is 21, with 13 of them admitted to different hospitals and nine people on home-based treatment.

The sudden spurt in H1N1 cases after a long gap and the number of patients requiring ventilator support has caught the attention of authorities who said that daily monitoring of H1N1 cases that was stopped a few months ago is being revived.

“After the spate of H1N1 infections subsided, we stopped started having monthly meetings,” said Dr more.

“but after the spurt in cases, we would once again start daily monitoring of situations and weekly review meetings would be held to access the situation,” he added.

While all hospitals confirmed that a total of five patients were on life support and no deterioration in their condition took place, Bharati Hospital said that one patient’s condition had worsened a little in 24 hours. “his kidney function had reduced considerably and that’s why he was put on dialysis and started life saving medicines,” confirmed hospital dean, Dr Vivek Saoji.

Meanwhile, state joint director of health services, Dr V M Khanande, said that the spurt in cases, though surprising, could be attributed to erratic weather.

“During the transition period, viral load is expected to be high. While rise in H1N1 positive cases, especially critical patients is of concern, at the moment we can term them as sporadic incidents. so far we haven’t received any adverse reports on change in virus activity,” said Khanande.

Private hospitals and private practioners confirmed that they have upped the ante on H1N1 infections post reports of rising infections.

“All our doctors have been alerted to look for H1N1 cases,” said medical administrator of Poona Hospital, Dr R Sengupta. Medical superintendents at Inlaks Hospital, Jehangir Hospital and Inamdar Hospital said that all consultants have been alerted to report suspected H1N1 cases.

Five patients on ventilator support include a 55-year-old auto rickshaw driver at Bharati Hospital, a 30-year-old woman at Aditya Birla Hospital, a 55-year-old woman at Thergaon’s Global Hospital, a 24-year-old woman at KEM hospital and a 41-year-old man at Prayag Hospital.

A local doctor has a new way to detect and help prevent pancreatic cancer.  It’s an inexpensive screening program he says could save lives.

Dr. Gordon Hixson has been in radiology for more than 40 years.  He now hopes to use his experience in imaging to identify pancreatic cancer early.

Dr. Hixson spends most of his time looking carefully at ultrasounds.  He’s looking for any signs of cancer in the pancreas.  He says this is a new and unique way to detect it.  “You can simply use inexpensive ultrasound of the abdoman to target just the pancreas itself.”

Dr. Hixson says that specific view can show a block of the pancreatic duct that could be cancer.  It’s a terrifying image that Dr. Hixson noticed on his own ultrasound three years ago.  “It was much smaller than the usual pancreatic cancer and I didn’t have any symptoms.”

Just the year before he had travelled to Italy with his wife and was in perfect health.  but during a routine screening as a precaution, he spotted a small speck.  that turned out to be cancer, growing his pancreatic duct to 6 times the average.  He says if it weren’t for that early image, he would not have recovered.  “I would not be here now, had this not have happened, I think it may have been divine intervention.”

Dr. Hixson says that intervention involves passing on his technique to others, in a new low cost, early screening program for pancreatic cancer.  A disease that doesn’t have detection guidelines, and detection isn’t always covered by healthcare.  “We should be able to cut the death rate from 95 percent to 50 percent, I really do believe that.”

He hopes to use his own story of success to steer others toward a life saving screening.  “I like to help other people so this is one way to help a lot of people.”

The screenings just became available this year at the Women’s Diagnostic Center.  They’re being offered for both men and women over the age of about 60.

“I went in for a hysterectomy and when I woke up, they told me I had ovarian cancer. Let’s just say I was in total shock,” recalls Chartrand. Her shock was followed by five months of intense chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer that put her life on hold. the five-year survival rate for her stage III diagnosis was roughly one in three. Chartrand, a mother of three, was in for the fight of her life.

With few early symptoms, ovarian cancer–like many cancers–can be hard to detect without invasive and expensive procedures. “Early detection is absolutely not only key but probably the only way for us to win the war on cancer,” says Vadim Backman who is a biomedical engineer at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

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With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), in part funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Backman’s research is shedding light on how early cancer detection can be made cheaper, more accurate and less invasive. “We’re developing new optics technologies to learn about tissue structure and composition, and we are applying these technologies for early cancer screening,” he says.

The team’s research is part of a field that’s called bio-photonics, where light becomes an analytical tool for biology. Backman and his colleagues perfected a new type of microscopy, which they most recently demonstrated using cheek cells harvested with a small brush stroked against the inside of the mouth. When the researchers shine light on the harvested cells, photons bounce off structures within them at different angles depending on whether the cells are healthy or not.

The process is highly sensitive, able to detect even subtle abnormalities that could indicate problems elsewhere in the body. Backman is currently developing screeners for a number of cancers by harvesting cells from areas near organs that could become malignant. For example, cheek cells are harvested as a pre-screener for lung cancer, and cells harvested from just inside the rectum can be analyzed to prescreen for potential colon cancer.

Backman says both technologies are minimally invasive and can be practiced in a primary care setting. he adds that the colon screening he’s testing doesn’t involve the discomfort of bowel prep that, as Backman says, “Everyone loves to hate.”

A slightly more invasive pre-screener takes cells from the upper intestine to screen for pancreatic cancer. the current test for pancreatic cancer involves taking a probe into ducts around the pancreas and poses a high risk of injury.

Once the harvested cells are analyzed, Backman says he can detect details previously unseen with conventional microscope technologies. “We see alterations in cells that are indicative of pre-pre cancer, if you will. If you were to take the cells under the microscope, you could not tell a difference.”

A few miles from Backman’s lab is Evanston Hospital. It’s part of Chicago Land’s NorthShore University HealthSystem. Dr. Hemant Roy is NorthShore’s director of gastroenterology. He’s also Backman’s research partner. Roy showed us a probe that takes Backman’s technology out of the lab and into practical use. the probe, which does not yet have a name, is currently used in clinical trials. It uses bio-photonics to analyze tissue inside the mouth for early lung cancer screening. It’s a small, elongated, flexible flashlight, no thicker than a pencil. It shines a small light on the inside of the mouth, reads back how the light is reflected and sends the data to a computer. Roy takes a reading by simply pushing a button while shining the light on tissue inside the cheek. Raw data sampled from the light is displayed as a small graph on the computer’s screen.

“With this probe, we’ve probably done a couple of hundred patients. We’re about 90 percent accurate,” says Roy. “I think if this works, we could really make a big difference in how we treat patients. We can make a huge impact on population screening.” One day Backman and Roy hope that devices similar to this will be used in physical exams as routinely as taking blood pressure or using that tongue depressor to make you say “ahh.”

Backman and Roy will soon be part of a new clinical trial using bio-photonics to screen cervical cells for signs of ovarian cancer. That’s something Melissa Chartrand, who has been cancer-free for over two years now, can truly appreciate. “If there had been some pre-screening tool or some kind of early detection, I might not have had to go through any of what I went through,” says Chartrand. “If they caught it earlier, it might have gone from stage III to hardly a stage I. maybe I’d have no chemo or even less surgery. Imagine that.”

If Backman and Roy’s research is any indication, the early detection that Chartrand imagines might soon be a reality.

Provided by National Science Foundation (news : web)

Mannheim, Germany (PRWEB) December 13, 2011

The Science Magazine EurekaMag.com publishes articles in all areas of biological science including biology, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, geography, environment and health. Drawing from this pool of scientific disciplines, it publishes articles, reviews and insights on biological topics including those which have recently become popular. Most of these reviews are included in the EurekaMag Keyword Category and in the EurekaMag Keyphrase Category of the online science magazine.

The EurekaMag.com insight into Sweetbreads covers the thymus (throat, gullet, or neck sweetbread) or the pancreas (heart, stomach, or belly sweetbread) especially of the calf and lamb although beef and pork sweetbreads are also eaten. The article covers a market test to measure the effects of promotional and merchandising strategies on food store sales of selected beef and pork variety meats including beef and pork sweetbreads. Another experiment Bulgarian White goats which were fed iso-nitrogenous diets, containing either no added fat or sunflower oil. While dietary sunflower oil did not influence the growth rate, average daily gain, dressing percentage, body component weights, carcass and muscle measurements, and the physicochemical characteristics of the meat, it had a noticeable effect on the deposition and distribution of body fat. While perirenal fat content was not modified, the weights of caul and sweetbread tended to decrease with sunflower-oil enriched diets.

Eurekamag.com presents an insight into the small mammal Honeybadger which is also known as the ratel and is a species of mustelid native to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. The review covers an investigation on the death of honeybees. The researchers studied visual symptoms of diseases and pest infestation, and damage from predators. While no viruses, Bacillus larvae, Malpighamoeba mellificae, sacbrood virus, Varroa jacobsoni and Tropilaelaps clareae were found, Nosema apis, Melissococcus pluton and Acarapis woodi were among the parasites found, and pests included the honeybadger, Mellivora capensis, army ants, Dorylus spp, and wax moths. in a survey of 163 beekeepers and extension workers the replies indicated that honeybadgers affected 40% of their colonies and another study identified parvovirus infection in honeybadger.

The EurekaMag.com insight into the West African butter tree Pentadesma butyracea covers this evergreen tree up to 28 meters in height and with 2.75 meters girth. it commonly grows in forests under swampy conditions between Guinea to West Cameroon, and extending into Gabon. Pentadesma butter (Pentadesma butyracea, sabine, clusiaceae) which is an extract of the kernels of the fruits of the butter tree and similar to shea butter. The study of the fatty acid composition, triacylglycerols, sterols and tocopherols of Pentadesma butter was carried out on seeds collected in ten production areas in Benin. The results show that the composition in fatty acids is characterized by the presence of stearic acid and oleic acid, which represent nearly 96% of the total fatty acids in Pentadesma butter. a comparison of the fat contents of cacao, shea butter (Butyrospermum parkii) and tallow (Pentadesma butyracea) and a comparison of four oilseeds providing cocoa-butter substitutes including shea (Butyrospermum paradoxum), pentadecima (Pentadesma butyraceae), illipe (Shorea spp) and salseed (Shorea robusta). Results showed varying levels of aflatoxin when tested as substrates for its production by two strains of Aspergillus parasiticus.

The Science Magazine EurekaMag.com was launched in November 1998 as the online version of the French science magazine “Eurêka – Le magazine des sciences” published since 1995. during the past decade, it has emerged as a comprehensive aggregator of information on biology, on the applied life sciences agriculture, horticulture and forestry, on the earth sciences, on the environmental sciences, and on the health sciences.

The Science Magazine has recently been accredited by the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry with the registration number ?ICP?10204677?. The site delivers its content through a number of RSS feeds including a “Most Shared Content” RSS Feed and an @EurekaMag Twitter account. The @EurekaMag Twitter account currently features 45,348 tweets and 828 followers. The site accepts advertisements through the Google AdWords system.

Read the full story at prweb.com/releases/2011/12/prweb9032587.htm

• By Ivan V. Natividad
• Roll Call Staff
• Dec. 5, 2011, Midnight

Nick Wass/Associated Press Caitlin Ryan (middle) spoke at a news conference on diabetes with Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (left) and Susan Collins in November.

Standing at the Capitol Visitor Center podium before a room of reporters, clinical experts and Food and Drug Administration officials, lobbyist Caitlin Ryan is steadfast and poised. as she speaks, a barrage of camera lights wash over her face.

“I hope the FDA is listening today,” she says, “and that the people making the decisions at the FDA know how badly those of us with Type 1 diabetes want an artificial pancreas.”

Composed and collected, she concludes with the firmness of a seasoned lobbying vet, imploring with urgent finality, “we don’t just want it, we need it.”

Caitlin is 11 years old.

Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 5, the Washington, D.C., native has since rubbed elbows with the high and mighty in pursuit of a cure for a disease that hits close to home.

“My dad and [brother], Duncan, have diabetes, too,” she told Roll Call. “My cat, Kitty-Cat, even has it.”

In 2005, Caitlin and her younger brother began to exhibit symptoms of Type 1 diabetes. her parents, Michelle and Tim, felt it was time to get involved in the effort to find a cure.

“I called [Tim] to say we were on the way to the hospital with Duncan,” Michelle said. “He called his friend at [the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation] and said, ‘Now we want to be involved. We’ve gotta step up, we gotta do something.’”

Michelle and Tim soon became active in the foundation, taking Caitlin to FDA meetings and speaking in public service announcements to promote funding for diabetes research.

As a press aide to then-Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), Tim found that getting involved in the group was a way to cope with the situation in a productive way.

“I was diagnosed in 1998, but when your kid gets diagnosed with any disease, there is a lot of frustration and anger you have. … Advocacy is a great outlet to channel that anger into starting something positive,” he said.

For Caitlin, it started with a bag of hope.

“they delivered something they called a ‘Bag of Hope’ to our house,” she said. “It has a video and children’s books and things about how to take care of your diabetes. and they give you a bear named Rufus.”

Rufus comes equipped with a diabetes bracelet and body patches that direct children how to practice giving insulin shots and check their blood sugar levels. the group sends the bags to newly diagnosed children to help them get acquainted with their disease.

“There’s a lot of management, and you have to do it 24/7,” Michelle said. “but JDRF reaches out, and it’s great because they teach the kids and get them advocating for themselves.”

In 1970, two mothers from New York and Philadelphia founded the group, which raises money for research and organizes advocacy events allowing children with the disease to share their stories with Members of Congress.

“we want to find a cure and have better treatment for people with Type 1 diabetes,” said Cynthia Rice, vice president of government relations for JDRF. “Caitlin has been a wonderful advocate for the cause. her poise and ability to articulate what diabetes research means to her family is great.”

Recently, Caitlin spoke at a news conference with Senate Diabetes Caucus Co-Chairwomen Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), in a final push to persuade the FDA to provide guidance policies for artificial pancreas outpatient trials.

Caitlin is not an expert on such an esoteric topic, but she brings other virtues to the table.

“Too often we fail to recognize the urgency of addressing Type 1 diabetes,” said Shaheen, whose granddaughter Elle also has Type 1 diabetes. “Hearing the voices of those that wrestle with the disease’s challenges helps remind us just how urgent the fight to find a cure is.”

While not a cure, the artificial pancreas has received staunch support from the American Diabetes Association and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, describing its development as the greatest discovery since insulin.

“I can only dream of the day that I can eat and do what I want,” Caitlin said. “An artificial pancreas would make this dream possible.”

On Thursday, less than a month after her appearance at the news conference, the FDA released draft guidance for artificial pancreas trials for at-home use.

“Our initial review of the draft [artificial pancreas] guidance indicates that the FDA has been responsive and listened to the recommendations of leading clinicians and researchers.” JDRF President and CEO Jeffrey Brewer said.

With the possibility of a better life for her daughter on the horizon, Michelle sees Caitlin’s continuing advocacy as an opportunity to meet other accomplished individuals with Type 1 diabetes.

“This past summer she met [Supreme Court] Justice [Sonia] Sotomayor,” Michelle said. “these people are great role models to tell you that you don’t let [diabetes] stop you from doing what you want to do.”

In addition to meeting high-level officials, Caitlin also enjoys galvanizing her friends and classmates to form teams for  the annual JDRF fundraising walk.

“the first year we walked around the Mall, but the last few years, it’s been at Nationals Park,” she said, her feet fidgeting with excitement. “It’s really fun and you finish, and you get to walk across home plate and you wave at yourself on the JumboTron,” a visible indication that what she does makes a difference.

“I do it so they know about the disease,” she said. “I do it because maybe it might work.”