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$1,400,000 Goal

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Meet the Aussies who need your help to change the face of T1D today

Back bold breakthroughs and Australians like Alec, who are reshaping the future of type 1 diabetes. 

Alec was diagnosed with T1D as a young child. He – and his family – found the endless blood glucose checks, carbohydrate counting and insulin injections intensely difficult.  

“It was quite brutal as a young person with type 1 diabetes in the 1970s,” Alec says. “It was 5 needles a day, constant urine tests, and rules about what you could and couldn’t eat. It was a really challenging childhood,” Alec says. 

So decades later, when Alec’s own daughter was diagnosed at age 9, he was shattered all over again.  

"To me, it was devastating because I assumed my daughter was going to have to go through what I went through. I was quite broken when I found out," he says.  

Determined to forge a better future for his daughter, Alec made the brave decision to take part in a ground-breaking clinical trial with Professor Toby Coates – which is showing promising results and helping to redefine what's possible for T1D. 

Discover the research that’s having a real impact

Islet transplantation has the potential to redefine what's possible for people living with T1D. 

The procedure involves transplanting islets (groups of cells that contain beta cells, which produce insulin) that have been destroyed as a result of T1D into people with the condition, enabling them to produce their own insulin once again. 

However, this procedure presents several challenges, including the fact that the liver is not an ideal site for transplantation.  

In a world-first clinical trial, Breakthrough T1D-funded researcher Professor Toby Coates is testing an innovative new approach – using the skin, instead of the liver, as the transplantation site.  

Early results have been promising, with the potential to transform how people manage and live with the condition.