FUNDS GO TO FIGHT AGAINST DIABETES.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick and Karen Maeshiro Staff Writers PALMDALE - Close to $50,000 was contributed by businesses and individuals to kick off an Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley campaign to raise money for promising research into a potential cure for diabetes. Organized by two local teachers whose daughter has had diabetes since age 4, a fund-raising dinner Thursday night drew 200 people to listen to Massachusetts researcher Dr. Denise Faustman Denise Faustman, is a U.S. physician and medical researcher. An associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, her work specializes in Diabetes mellitus type 1 (formerly called juvenile diabetes). She has worked at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston since 1985. and auto-industry icon Lee Iacocca Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca (born October 15, 1924) is an American industrialist most commonly known for his revival of the Chrysler brand in the 1980s when he was the CEO. Among the most widely recognized businessmen in the world, he was a passionate advocate of U.S. , whose wife died of diabetes complications in 1983. ``If it's in the family ... you have a passion for it. You've got to lick it. This is an insidious, terrible disease,'' said Iacocca, who created a foundation that has provided $20 million for diabetes research since 1984. Affecting an estimated 18 million Americans whose pancreases have stopped or slowed their production of the insulin necessary to convert glucose into fuel for the body, diabetes leads to widespread complications: blindness, kidney damage kidney damage Kidney injury Nephrology A structural or functional compromise in renal function due to external–eg, athletic, occupational, or other trauma, resulting in bruising or hemorrhage, which can be profuse and life threatening Etiology Vascular , nerve damage and heart disease. Type 1 or juvenile diabetes juvenile diabetes n. Insulin-dependent diabetes. requires several injections daily of insulin. Type 2 or adult diabetes often can be controlled by diet. The Cascades restaurant dinner - of lasagna, in honor of Iacocca's Italian heritage - was organized by El Dorado El Dorado, legendary country of South America El Dorado (ĕl`dərä`dō, –rā`–) [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. School teacher Jeff Hanson and wife Debbie, a former El Dorado teacher. The Hansons heard Iacocca and Faustman speak last March at a Palm Springs conference, then traveled to Boston to visit Faustman and learn more about her research. The Hansons created a nonprofit organization Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. called Reach for the Cure Foundation with a goal of raising $1 million in the Antelope Valley toward the $11 million needed for the first three years of clinical trials on human patients. ``We said, 'How do we help?'' Debbie Hanson said. Daughter Tiffany Hanson, 23, said the possibility of a cure for her disease - which has meant five injections a day since age 4 - gave her hope. ``I have changed my life around since hearing that this is a possibility. If I can be cured, I can do anything with my life,'' she said. Of her daughter's disease, Debbie Hanson said: ``It's been really tough.'' Faustman and her team at Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital Health care The major teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School, widely regarded as one of the best health care centers in the world discovered that the pancreatic cells that produce insulin - called islet cells - can be regrown in white mice. The process has cured Type 1 in lab mice, said Faustman, a Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. It is a prestigious American medical school located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. professor. In Type 1 diabetics, the bone marrow allows bad immune cells that attack the insulin-secreting islet cells into the bloodstream. Faustman discovered that a naturally occurring protein could be used to kill off the bad immune cells, and then found that injected donor cells ``re-educate'' newly emerging immune cells so they do not attack the islet cells. That adult organs could regenerate was once thought impossible, Faustman said. ``Once the disease was completely and benignly removed, the islet islet /is·let/ (-lit) an island. islets of Langerhans irregular microscopic structures scattered throughout the pancreas and comprising its endocrine portion. regrew in the pancreas,'' Faustman said. Many of the people at the dinner have diabetes or have relatives with the disease. Diabetes was found four years ago in the daughter of master of ceremonies Lew Stults, an staffer to U.S. Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. ``This is important to me,'' Stults said. The Hansons said they were impressed at the readiness of Antelope Valley residents and businesses to contribute. The dinner seats were purchased at $2,500 a table by 22 sponsors, including Rancho Vista Development, The Boeing Co., Western Pacific Roofing, Waste Management and Antelope Valley Escrow. ``The Antelope Valley is just the most amazing place. This valley has come together,'' Debbie Hanson said. The Iacocca Foundation put $7 million into Faustman's research. The foundation has $2.5 million in pledges toward the clinical trials. That includes $1 million from the 79-year-old Iacocca, former head of both Ford and Chrysler. The Hansons hope to reach their $1 million goal within three years. Donations can be made through Iacocca's Web site, www.joinleenow.com, or to www.reachforthecure.org. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Lee Iacocca receives an award from Cheyenne Smith, 6, who has Type 1 diabetes type 1 diabetes n. See diabetes mellitus. , at the research fund-raiser on Thursday. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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