By Journey to a Miracle, Special for USDR
Thousands of Americans with diabetes are taking insulin shots and don’t need to. What they and their physicians need to know is – they have the wrong diagnosis and are on the wrong treatment. Until recently, doctors only knew to diagnose patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Science has now proven that there are different, genetic forms that affect up to 500,000 Americans – and most have been misdiagnosed. These newly understood types are calledmonogenic diabetes and remarkably the best treatment is an inexpensive pill, not insulin.
The award-winning documentary Journey to a Miracle: Freedom from Insulin is bringing the story of this game-changing medical breakthrough to audiences nationwide. The heartwarming film weaves together life-changing stories of brilliant scientists with grateful families who hoped and prayed for a diabetes cure, but never in their wildest dreams imagined it would come in the form of a simple pill.
Journey to a Miracle will have its Texas premiere Tuesday, September 20 at 8:05 pm on Austin PBS station KLRU (Check local listings.) Trailer
Journey to a Miracle executive producers Laurie and Michael Jaffe (formerly of Austin), made the documentary after their daughter Lilly, who was diagnosed with diabetes at one month old, was able to switch her treatment from insulin shots to pills when she was six. Michael Jaffe is a Chicago– based commercial real estate executive who developed the Arboretum retail center in the 1980s for Trammell Crow.
“It was incredible to watch our daughter disconnect her insulin pump forever and surreal when she handed me her lifeline to store in a closet. We were grateful that she was free from shots, but wondered ‘why us, why now?’ We concluded that we had to tell the story and bring hope to others. Every time the movie airs, someone is helped,” says Laurie Jaffe.
“This documentary is a giant step forward in raising awareness for monogenic diabetes. It will help reach the public in a way that lectures and published studies in medical journals never could,” says Dr. Louis Philipson, Lilly’s doctor and director of theUniversity of Chicago Kovler Diabetes Center.
Journey to a Miracle made its television debut last year on Chicago public television WTTW-11 and is now available to public television stations nationwide. The documentary has also has been featured in film festivals throughout the world.
SOURCE Journey to a Miracle
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