JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

TV’s best loved carpenter and DIY star is Rob Palmer from Channel Seven’s Better Homes and Gardens. This year he is swapping his khakis for sequins to compete on Dancing with the Stars. As a celebrity contestant, Rob has chosen JDRF to receive his prize-money and he told us why finding a cure for type 1 diabetes is a mission close to his heart.

Rob’s life with type 1 diabetes began when he was just 7 years old. En route to a holiday to Queensland, the Palmer family stopped in Tamworth with a very sick little boy. A local doctor told his parents to get him to the Children’s Hospital in Camperdown as soon as possible and ‘keep his fluids up’. Dutifully his parents fed him lemonade throughout the 400 km drive, with stops every 15 minutes or so for little Rob to throw up or go to the toilet. His diabetes diagnosis came just in the nick of time, with a blood glucose level of 64 mmol/L, followed by two weeks in intensive care.

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Put simply, a clinical trial is a scientific study of a new medical therapy in humans.

Clinical trials are usually the last stage of the research process, capping off years of laboratory and animal research. Their ultimate aim is to obtain a realistic picture of what would happen if a medical treatment was available to the Australian public. Read more...

Jared Banks bonded with his new mate Rod Kafer over rugby scores and BGLs when they met recently in Brisbane to hand over a special JDRF rugby jersey. Jared is a nine-year old “rugby nut” who has had type 1 diabetes for just 18 months. Rod, a former Wallaby who had a distinguished on-field rugby career, is now one of Fox Sports rugby personalities. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 15.

Jared presented Rod with a special edition of the Pine Rivers Pumas rugby jersey that commemorates the 25th Anniversary of the club, as well as the team’s new partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Although Jared’s diagnosis was a shock to his family, dad Jason, who is team coach, says his son is a bit of a larrikin who is coping with life with type 1 diabetes really well.

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