August 25, 2025 • 8 mins
50 YEARS WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES! That's what they are celebrating at the Children's Diabetes Foundation, which was named before they realized Type 1 diabetes can strike at any age. Dana Davis, whose mom Barbara started the joint, has been living with Type 1 for over 50 years! Considering this used to be an early death sentence that is incredible. Find out more about CDF by clicking here.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now to celebrate a really, really significant milestone
is a woman who has not only been living with
type one diabetes for fifty years, which we're going to
get to why that is so absolutely incredible in just
a moment, but I would go so far as to say,
because Dana Davis got type one diabetes as a child,
(00:20):
the entire city of Denver and the surrounding areas for
miles and miles have benefited through the Barbara Davis Center,
through the Children's Diabetes Foundation, and all of the work
that they've done to get us from fifty years ago
when finding out you a type one diabetes probably meant
a shorter lifespan to last Friday where at the Barbara
(00:42):
Davis Center or Children's Diabetes Foundation, not know where the
actual metal ceremony took place, they actually honored people who
had been living with type one diabetes for at least
fifty years, which is insane. And now Dana Davis, the
executive director, joins me to talk about it. It wasn't
just you, though, Dana, but you did get your medal
on Friday.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Hi, thank you so much for having me here. I
did get my medal and it was super exciting and
thrilling to get it because when I was diagnosed, just
like so many of the other people that were there
with me, we were told that we'd probably lived thirty
or forty years. A lot of people were discouraged from
having kids. Life was just so different, and we celebrated
(01:29):
this day. There was eighty six of us there, but
there are actually four over four hundred and sixty patients
at the Barbara Davis Center living and thriving with type
one for more than fifty years, some up to seventy
five years, which is unbelievable and incredible.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So let's talk about Dana and I were talking off
the air before we just started this segment, and you
said something that I thought was very interesting. You said,
for you, you almost got more out of Friday's medal
ceremony than some of the kids because the way type
one diabetes impacts their lives is so different now then
(02:07):
the way your life as a child was impacted, just
because of the advancements that have been made. So isn't
that a wonderful bit of progress to talk about.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
There's a huge bit of progress. I mean, there is
the way technology has sped up, how diabetes is treated. Now,
we now have continuous glucose monitors where we know what
our but sugar is every five minutes. Back then, we
didn't even have blood testing. We had urine testing. It
was totally inaccurate. We have insulm pumps. Now. When I
(02:42):
was diagnosed, you were given one shot in the morning.
Park was the first one. I was allergic to it.
The next day I went back and they gave me beef.
It was cloudy. You could see stuff floating.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Now, you know, we.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Had to boil needles and now we have I mean,
insulm pumps and we have really insolence and disposable needles.
And it's a different world. And it was kind of
nice to be around a bunch of people that grew
up with Type one the same way I did, because
you know, it's so hard to remember that fifty years
(03:16):
ago how far we've come, which only means I really
believe the next fifty years is going to happen in
twenty five, like I believe we will have some form
of a cure, whatever that will look like in the
next twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Oh, I just read a story recently about a crisper
gene treatment that is yeah, They're literally modifying the genetic
code for people who have type one diabetes and it
turns on their spleen and all of a sudden they
are able to completely eliminate their dependence on influence. I
can't even imagine. And this has only been done a
(03:55):
few times. We're not talking about a widespread study yet,
So I don't want people to think it's going to
be here tomorrow, right, I want to manage expectations a
little bit. Absolutely, But that's incredible. That's a that we
are so close to a cure for type one diabetes.
And let's be real, folks, fifty years ago was not
eighteen ninety five with the cloudy influence. That was nineteen
(04:16):
seventy five. Okay, so this is not the Dark Ages,
but that's how much in the Dark Ages treatment for
type one diabetes was back then. So I mean data.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Exactly, go go ahead, No, sorry, I was just going
to say things with the crisper and stuff is important
to look at and know because one of the things
you want to make sure is that the cure isn't
worse than the actual disease. So sometimes still, you know,
there's a lot of anti rejection drugs involved with things
that are types of cures, right, says, So you want
(04:47):
to make sure you know, like those are one thing
that's being focused on. Another thing is getting tested. If
you have the markers, you have four markers, your A
one C starts to raise. You can come and get
an infusion. That's why we're trying to encourage people to
get tested. You can get an infusion for two weeks
and it could push off the onset of type one
(05:09):
diabetes for many years. So when I say cure, I
mean it can look like it's more than just one thing, right.
A cure can be multiple things, and that's what we're
so excited about.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Well, go into that just a little bit. What you
just mentioned. What are the four markers? What what? What
if they want to look for them?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And I should know what they are and I do not,
but I shall learn it for the next time. But
I know there are four markers. So at the Barbara
Davis Center, we do free testing so people can come,
they can get tested, they can see if they have
the markers for type one diabetes along with to see
if they have celiac and we then can follow you
(05:47):
and know if you have the markers. They have a
whole process they go through and Sonofi is a company
that has created this drug called tezild t Zield is
something that we have an infusion center at the barbar
Davia Center and we can infuse you. It's thirty minutes
a day. I mean, you have to go through it.
I'm making it sound so much easier than it is, right, Yeah,
(06:09):
but you know it's thirty minutes a day for two weeks.
But in the past, it used to be people were like, well,
why would I get tested? There's nothing you can do
right right now, Families, if you have it in your
history and you can get tested and you can do
something to prolong the onset, I mean, that's incredible and
eventually continue to prolong it, maybe as another form of
(06:32):
a cure. Saying say, we've never said a cure, like
the Children's Diabetes Foundation, the Barber Data Center. We've never
been like, we have a cure. We've been very careful
and we really feel what it is in our grasp
within the next you know, twenty two decades, which I
think is a huge deal.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Oh No, I think it's I think it's I keep
saying all of this stuff that's happening right now with
medicine and the way they're using AI to sort of
move things along at a rate that is it's just
incomprehensible in terms of the ability to speed the process along.
I'm with you. I feel very optimistic that we're going
to find a way to help people live a perfectly
(07:12):
normal life without necessarily worrying about their type one diabetes
very soon.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Absolutely, kids can live. I mean, somebody who gets it
when they're five, when they're one, they can live until
they're nineties, happy and healthy, and that's that's like the
greatest gift ever.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Right Well, Dana, congratulations to you and all of those
over fifty year folks who are living and thriving with
type one diabetes. I'm glad you had that experience where
you all got to get together. And I'm guessing some
war stories were traded.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Back in our day. This is what we had to do.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
With the kids that are there now, with their continuous
glucose monitors and their you know, influin pumps, they can't
even imagine, they can't fathom it. It's great to though, Dana.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you for having me.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Oh that's Dana Davis. It's my pleasure. We'll talk again soon. Dana,
have a great day.
Joining us now to celebrate a really, really significant milestone
is a woman who has not only been living with
type one diabetes for fifty years, which we're going to
get to why that is so absolutely incredible in just
a moment, but I would go so far as to say,
because Dana Davis got type one diabetes as a child,
(00:20):
the entire city of Denver and the surrounding areas for
miles and miles have benefited through the Barbara Davis Center,
through the Children's Diabetes Foundation, and all of the work
that they've done to get us from fifty years ago
when finding out you a type one diabetes probably meant
a shorter lifespan to last Friday where at the Barbara
(00:42):
Davis Center or Children's Diabetes Foundation, not know where the
actual metal ceremony took place, they actually honored people who
had been living with type one diabetes for at least
fifty years, which is insane. And now Dana Davis, the
executive director, joins me to talk about it. It wasn't
just you, though, Dana, but you did get your medal
on Friday.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Hi, thank you so much for having me here. I
did get my medal and it was super exciting and
thrilling to get it because when I was diagnosed, just
like so many of the other people that were there
with me, we were told that we'd probably lived thirty
or forty years. A lot of people were discouraged from
having kids. Life was just so different, and we celebrated
(01:29):
this day. There was eighty six of us there, but
there are actually four over four hundred and sixty patients
at the Barbara Davis Center living and thriving with type
one for more than fifty years, some up to seventy
five years, which is unbelievable and incredible.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So let's talk about Dana and I were talking off
the air before we just started this segment, and you
said something that I thought was very interesting. You said,
for you, you almost got more out of Friday's medal
ceremony than some of the kids because the way type
one diabetes impacts their lives is so different now then
(02:07):
the way your life as a child was impacted, just
because of the advancements that have been made. So isn't
that a wonderful bit of progress to talk about.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
There's a huge bit of progress. I mean, there is
the way technology has sped up, how diabetes is treated. Now,
we now have continuous glucose monitors where we know what
our but sugar is every five minutes. Back then, we
didn't even have blood testing. We had urine testing. It
was totally inaccurate. We have insulm pumps. Now. When I
(02:42):
was diagnosed, you were given one shot in the morning.
Park was the first one. I was allergic to it.
The next day I went back and they gave me beef.
It was cloudy. You could see stuff floating.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Now, you know, we.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Had to boil needles and now we have I mean,
insulm pumps and we have really insolence and disposable needles.
And it's a different world. And it was kind of
nice to be around a bunch of people that grew
up with Type one the same way I did, because
you know, it's so hard to remember that fifty years
(03:16):
ago how far we've come, which only means I really
believe the next fifty years is going to happen in
twenty five, like I believe we will have some form
of a cure, whatever that will look like in the
next twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Oh, I just read a story recently about a crisper
gene treatment that is yeah, They're literally modifying the genetic
code for people who have type one diabetes and it
turns on their spleen and all of a sudden they
are able to completely eliminate their dependence on influence. I
can't even imagine. And this has only been done a
(03:55):
few times. We're not talking about a widespread study yet,
So I don't want people to think it's going to
be here tomorrow, right, I want to manage expectations a
little bit. Absolutely, But that's incredible. That's a that we
are so close to a cure for type one diabetes.
And let's be real, folks, fifty years ago was not
eighteen ninety five with the cloudy influence. That was nineteen
(04:16):
seventy five. Okay, so this is not the Dark Ages,
but that's how much in the Dark Ages treatment for
type one diabetes was back then. So I mean data.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Exactly, go go ahead, No, sorry, I was just going
to say things with the crisper and stuff is important
to look at and know because one of the things
you want to make sure is that the cure isn't
worse than the actual disease. So sometimes still, you know,
there's a lot of anti rejection drugs involved with things
that are types of cures, right, says, So you want
(04:47):
to make sure you know, like those are one thing
that's being focused on. Another thing is getting tested. If
you have the markers, you have four markers, your A
one C starts to raise. You can come and get
an infusion. That's why we're trying to encourage people to
get tested. You can get an infusion for two weeks
and it could push off the onset of type one
(05:09):
diabetes for many years. So when I say cure, I
mean it can look like it's more than just one thing, right.
A cure can be multiple things, and that's what we're
so excited about.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Well, go into that just a little bit. What you
just mentioned. What are the four markers? What what? What
if they want to look for them?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And I should know what they are and I do not,
but I shall learn it for the next time. But
I know there are four markers. So at the Barbara
Davis Center, we do free testing so people can come,
they can get tested, they can see if they have
the markers for type one diabetes along with to see
if they have celiac and we then can follow you
(05:47):
and know if you have the markers. They have a
whole process they go through and Sonofi is a company
that has created this drug called tezild t Zield is
something that we have an infusion center at the barbar
Davia Center and we can infuse you. It's thirty minutes
a day. I mean, you have to go through it.
I'm making it sound so much easier than it is, right, Yeah,
(06:09):
but you know it's thirty minutes a day for two weeks.
But in the past, it used to be people were like, well,
why would I get tested? There's nothing you can do
right right now, Families, if you have it in your
history and you can get tested and you can do
something to prolong the onset, I mean, that's incredible and
eventually continue to prolong it, maybe as another form of
(06:32):
a cure. Saying say, we've never said a cure, like
the Children's Diabetes Foundation, the Barber Data Center. We've never
been like, we have a cure. We've been very careful
and we really feel what it is in our grasp
within the next you know, twenty two decades, which I
think is a huge deal.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Oh No, I think it's I think it's I keep
saying all of this stuff that's happening right now with
medicine and the way they're using AI to sort of
move things along at a rate that is it's just
incomprehensible in terms of the ability to speed the process along.
I'm with you. I feel very optimistic that we're going
to find a way to help people live a perfectly
(07:12):
normal life without necessarily worrying about their type one diabetes
very soon.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Absolutely, kids can live. I mean, somebody who gets it
when they're five, when they're one, they can live until
they're nineties, happy and healthy, and that's that's like the
greatest gift ever.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Right Well, Dana, congratulations to you and all of those
over fifty year folks who are living and thriving with
type one diabetes. I'm glad you had that experience where
you all got to get together. And I'm guessing some
war stories were traded.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Back in our day. This is what we had to do.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
With the kids that are there now, with their continuous
glucose monitors and their you know, influin pumps, they can't
even imagine, they can't fathom it. It's great to though, Dana.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you for having me.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Oh that's Dana Davis. It's my pleasure. We'll talk again soon. Dana,
have a great day.
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