Jenny P.

What was the most interesting thing you learned about your topic?

The most interesting thing I learned about insulin was that Banting first tested his theories on dogs. Banting and his colleagues experimented on dogs by removing the pancreas, observing what happens to the dog that leads it to having diabetes. Then they tested more things on the dog to hopefully create something that would save diabetics from death.

What important lessons have you learned that you want to share with other Canadians?

I want to share that if Dr. Frederick Banting hadn't come up with his idea or hadn't had the determination to succeed, there might have never been a medicine for diabetes and millions of people would have died all over the world. We need to acknowledge him, as well as his colleagues, and appreciate them for their hard work. He made a big difference in the world and inspired us young people that we can create life changing events and achieve our dreams.

How would you compare your life today to the lives of those studied in your project?

The lives of people who had diabetes before insulin was created were really different from today because many people would need to be put on strict diets and would be restricted in the activities they could do. They needed a very specific nutritional diet each day to survive. They didn't have treatment that would save their lives or help them so they would die in the end. Whereas now that insulin is created, we have medication we can take for diabetes and also technology such as pods, pens, syringes, and pumps for diabetics to take with them when they need it. These make it easier for people with diabetes to live a normal life.