PrintLeonard Thompson Bio Page
Leonard Thompson Biography
Claim to Fame: First person to receive insulin injection at the age of 14
DOB: 1908
Date of Death: 1935
Diabetes Type: 1
Thompson was the first patient to receive injections of pancreatic extract on January 11, 1922. He was 14. The young Toronto resident had been diabetic since 1919. He weighed only 65 pounds and was about to slip into a coma and die. At first he received Dr, F. Banting’s and Dr. Charles Best’s extract. Two weeks later he used the purified extract of Dr. J.B. Collip and Thompson's symptoms began to disappear; his blood sugar returned to normal and he was brighter and stronger. Thompson lived another 13 years with the insulin. He died at the age of 27 due to diabetes complications.
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This morning it wasn’t the sun, the wind, or the birds that woke me up. It was the soft, insistent vibrating of a medical device urging me to check my blood sugar. Opening my eyes, still safely under the covers, I checked my blood sugar with a meter smaller than a deck of cards, calibrated my continuous glucose monitor, and then glanced at my insulin pump — which reminded me that today was the day I needed to change my infusion set. My dLife is pretty high tech. And I’m...
