For an election that is the longest in modern Canadian history, there hasn’t been a lot of discussion around the role Canada should play in supporting research to accelerate solutions for the management and cure of life-altering diseases.
Canada is home to incredibly exciting medical breakthroughs that have the potential to change the lives of over 300,000 Canadians living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and dramatically lower health care costs.
I have lived with T1D for 31 years and have to work at controlling my disease every second of every minute of every day. I can tell you that there are days when I just want to take a break from the testing, the needles, the diet and everything in between – but I just can’t. Over the past 15 years, I have had the blessing of meeting thousands of type 1 diabetic children and their families and helped support and encourage everyone to not let diabetes hold them back. The T1D community is a powerful network of passionate individuals who are all working towards creating a world without T1D.
I am encouraged that JDRF Canada has made, and continues to make, incredible headway in not only finding a cure, but also in the treatment of my disease.
Today, I am excited about a promising clinical trial that is using a state-of-the-art encapsulation device implanted under a patient’s skin to protect stem cells from a patient’s immune system. Encapsulation, in my opinion, is the closest thing to curing my disease. This product has the potential to provide an alternative source of insulin, giving people like me the ability to avoid dangerous blood sugar highs and lows without monitoring their blood glucose levels or taking insulin injections. This would free Canadians from the constant burden of diabetes and we need to move projects like this forward as quickly as possible.
Why do I think that Ottawa should act now? Aside from the enormous human toll, the economic burden for governments is rising. By 2020 the total personal and economic cost associated with diabetes is expected to increase to $16.9 billion.
JDRF Canada, the country’s largest national charitable funder for T1D research, launched the JDRF CCTN in 2009. This network supports leading-edge clinical trials contributing to ground-breaking efforts to accelerate “made-in-Canada” solutions for the management, care and cure of T1D and has provided nearly 1000 Canadians access to life changing T1D solutions.
The JDRF CCTN is ready to be taken national. It can help Canadians living with T1D from coast-to-coast-to-coast. Much of the funding for this initiative will come from JDRF Canada’s fundraising efforts and industry partnerships. In order to make this national network a reality, a $25 million commitment over five years is required from the Government of Canada. Expanding the clinical trial network could mean creating up to 10 new clinical trials across Canada, accelerating our efforts towards a solution.
JDRF Canada is actively participating in the federal election by calling on all political parties and candidates to commit to partnering to find solutions for T1D. Thousands of Canadians like me with T1D dream of improving their quality of life and solutions are within our grasp.
— George Canyon is a multiple award-winning country music singer.
