A couple of Fridays ago, Nick, a member of our outreach team, wrote an interesting post on his experiences with type 1 diabetes. He discussed how finding yourself in a rut can help you to realize that you need to take a step back and examine your current situation. Sometimes you need to evaluate and modify your routine and execute a new approach. It’s not that what you were doing before was wrong. As time goes by your environment and goals change, and as a result your tactics need to evolve with you.
Nick brought up a very good point when he concluded:
“Just because something worked ten years ago does not mean it will work in the future. There comes a time when you need to shift focus and try something new, and while I’ll be trying to do so in my personal life, the JDCA will be trying on a grander scale here.”
Refocusing on a cure to align intentions with results is exactly the approach the JDCA is advocating. We aren’t saying that funding other activities isn’t important, but we do believe that in order to achieve a cure, a new approach needs to be taken.
We are certainly not opposed to research into understanding more about type 1 diabetes or trying to find ways of preventing future generations from developing the condition. But as we have been waiting close to 90 years since the discovery of insulin for a diabetes cure, it cannot be denied that we have found ourselves in a bit of a rut. We have spent a lot of money searching for an “Idealized Cure,” without a clear definition or timetable for achieving one.
As we have to make changes in our personal lives, we also have to advocate for wide-scale changes in the diabetes research community and industry. As a donor community we invest our money, efforts, and hopes for a cure in the diabetes foundations. We need to take a step back and evaluate our strategies and let the organizations know that what we want is a serious, committed effort to find a Practical Cure by adopting a cure definition and timeline.
– Stoyan
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