Spencer Wallace, 91, donates historical items to Joslin Diabetes Center

SYRACUSE, N.Y.-- Spencer M. Wallace Jr. has been living with Type 1 diabetes for an astounding 81 years. Mr. Wallace, the first recipient of the Joslin Diabetes Center’s 80-year medal, donated several diabetes-related items that he has collected over his years of care to Upstate Medical University’s Joslin Diabetes Center during a reception last week. This donation includes diabetes-related books and devices that will be kept and displayed at the Joslin Diabetes Center.

Donated items include a newspaper article from 1936 announcing the development of the first intermediate-acting insulin; a Joslin Diabetes Manual from 1948; a Glucagon kit from 1967; an old autoinjector and sterilizer unit (for glass syringes used for insulin injections prior to the availability of disposable syringes), and cancelled checks written to Dr. Elliot Joslin (the first physician in the United States to specialize in diabetes care and founder of the national Joslin Diabetes Center).  A donation of a Joslin Diabetes Manual from 1919 (before the discovery of insulin) from another patient, Michele Corbin, who has had Type 1 diabetes for 44 years, will also be on display.

“Mr. Wallace’s generous donation reminds us of the advancements made in diabetes care over the 81 years that he’s been living with the disease,” said Ruth S. Weinstock, MD, PhD, director of Joslin Diabetes Center  and Clinical Research Unit at Upstate Medical University. “In addition to helping us look back, Mr. Wallace is helping shape the future of diabetes care. He has participated in several clinical research projects and hopes that a cure is found soon so that nobody has to worry about medals.”

Mr. Wallace is part of a Joslin Diabetes Center study of 50-year Medalists that aimed to understand why certain people who have had Type 1 diabetes for 50 or more years do not develop many of the serious complications associated with the disease. More recently, he volunteered for the Type 1 Diabetes Exchange, a project being conducted at the Upstate Joslin Diabetes Center in collaboration with other diabetes centers throughout the country, and which is contributing to increased knowledge that will lead to better approaches for the management of this disease.

The Joslin Diabetes Center supports a multi-disciplinary team approach to effective diabetes management that includes the patient in setting health care goals and learning how to use new technologies and incorporate proper nutrition, weight control, and exercise into his or her lifestyle.

For more information concerning diabetes research at Upstate, call 315 464-9007, and for the Joslin Diabetes Center, call 315 464-5726.

Caption: Upstate Interim President Gregory L. Eastwood, MD, admires 91-year-old Type 1 diabetes patient Spencer Wallace’s 80-year medal. Mr. Wallace was diagnosed at age 8 and is the only known recipient of the 80-year medal. Wallace has donated several historical diabetes-related items from his decades of care to the Joslin Diabetes Center.