1776Reporting
At just five years old, Marlaina Goedel was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Her blood sugar was so dangerously high that doctors were shocked she wasn’t in a coma. Now, 25 years later, her life has taken a remarkable turn. Thanks to a revolutionary clinical trial, Goedel is officially cured of type 1 diabetes, a condition that defined her life with countless health crises.
Goedel, an Illinois mother, is one of only three Americans to have undergone an islet cell transplant—a groundbreaking procedure that has enabled her body to produce insulin independently. In this process, new cells are implanted in the liver, where they begin producing insulin naturally. Remarkably, within just four weeks, Goedel’s body started to regulate its own insulin. Another trial participant was able to cut his insulin dose by two-thirds, and a third patient stopped using insulin entirely within two weeks.
Goedel’s life with diabetes was harsh from the start. As a child, she faced frequent hospital visits due to diabetic ketoacidosis, a serious complication that can arise when insulin production ceases and the liver breaks down fat into ketones, toxic acids that trigger severe symptoms like headaches, muscle pain, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting, according to the CDC.
As an adult, her struggles continued. Goedel experienced a diabetic episode behind the wheel, leading to a car accident. She also faced multiple miscarriages attributed to her fluctuating blood sugar levels. The most traumatic moment came when her 12-year-old daughter found her collapsed on the kitchen floor. That terrifying incident motivated Goedel to seek out any treatment that could offer hope. Eventually, she discovered the University of Chicago Medicine Transplant Institute’s clinical trial and decided to enroll.
During the trial, doctors administered an experimental drug, tegoprubart, which works by tricking the immune system into recognizing the treatment as a natural bodily function. This drug, made from antibodies, prevents the body from rejecting the transplanted cells. Afterward, doctors infused islet cells from a deceased donor into Goedel’s liver, where they took hold, and in just a few short weeks, her body began producing its own insulin.
On August 15, Dr. Witkowsky, the lead on the trial, delivered the life-changing news. “Today’s the day. Mark your calendar. Stop all insulin. You’re cured,” he told Goedel. For the first time, she could envision a life free from blood sugar monitors and insulin shots.
The team, under Dr. Witkowsky’s guidance, plans to expand the trial to more patients. Dr. David-Alexandre C Gros, CEO of Eledon Pharmaceuticals, explained the treatment’s potential for those with “brittle diabetes,” a severe form of type 1 diabetes that affects a small subset of patients with particularly unpredictable blood sugar levels. “For these patients, islet transplantation could help to restore endogenous insulin production, allowing for normalized glucose control, and potentially freeing them from daily insulin dependence,” Dr. Gros shared with the *Daily Mail.*
Encouraged by tegoprubart’s success, Dr. Gros added, “We are very encouraged by the levels of interest in tegoprubart and are working aggressively to advance this development program to bring this new option in immunosuppression to transplant patients as quickly as possible.”
For people like Goedel, this treatment represents not just a medical breakthrough but a new lease on life. “It took a while to get used to saying, ‘I am cured. I am diabetes-free.’ It’s been very freeing,” Goedel expressed. “No one should have to live with this disease. I know that now more than ever.”
As medical science pushes forward, the hope grows that more people with diabetes will find freedom from a condition that has long been considered a lifelong sentence.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings