by TheaCooper (Author), Arthur Ainsberg (Author)
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 for young Elizabeth. The only accepted form of treatment - starvation - whittles her down to forty-five pounds of skin and bones. Meanwhile, 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 while the scientists and a little known pharmaceutical company - Eli Lilly - struggle to make it available to the rest of the world.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 04 Oct 2010
ISBN 10: 0312648707
ISBN 13: 9780312648701
THEA COOPER is an author, playwright, editor and teacher. ARTHUR AINSBERG is an author and financial industry veteran whose successful battle with Hodgkin's disease sparked his interest in medical history.