It is 1919 and Elizabeth Hughes, the eleven-year-old daughter of America's most-distinguished jurist and politician, Charles Evans Hughes, has been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. It is essentially a death sentence. The only accepted form of treatment – starvation – whittles her down to forty-five pounds skin and bones. Miles away, Canadian researchers Frederick Banting and Charles Best manage to identify and purify insulin from animal pancreases – a miracle soon marred by scientific jealousy, intense business competition and fistfights. In a race against time and a ravaging disease, Elizabeth becomes one of the first diabetics to receive insulin injections – all while its discoverers and a little known pharmaceutical company struggle to make it available to the rest of the world. Relive the heartwarming true story of the discovery of insulin as it's never been told before. Written with authentic detail and suspense, and featuring walk-ons by William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, and Eli Lilly himself, among many others.
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This was an amazing insight into the discovery, testing, and production of the Insulin. I like the way the writers focused a lot on the researchers but interweaving Elizabeth Hughes story. She survived years on a starvation diet down to 54 lbs before getting Insulin that gave her a real life and she then hid her diabetes history (that is an story in itself). My mom is a 50+ year diabetes survivor and until recently I had never thought to investigate this story. So glad I did.
