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The Fight to Survive: A Young Girl, Diabetes, and the Discovery of Insulin 1st Edition

by Caroline Cox (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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In 1919, when 11-year-old Elizabeth Evan Hughes was first diagnosed with what we now know is Type 1 or juvenile diabetes, the medical community considered it a death sentence. In The Fight to Survive, Caroline Cox weaves the heart-wrenching story of Hughes' role in a medical discovery that stopped the disease in its tracks—only weeks before her imminent death.

The only account of one of the very first patients to be successfully treated with insulin for juvenile diabetes, this book tells two fascinating stories in tandem: that of Hughes' personal struggle, and the medical detective story that occurred during a time when endocrinology research made significant strides. It was Frederick Banting and John Macleod, doctors and researchers, who were finally able to create a testable version of insulin treatment to save Hughes' life. She lived until the age of 74, and Banting and Macleod won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work. The Fight to Survive draws on primary sources to vividly bring the era to life, including interviews, newspaper reports, and Hughes' own letters. Readers with an interest in medical history, pathographies, biography, diabetes, and American history will constitute this audience.

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  1. ISBN-10
    1607145510
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1607145516
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Kaplan Publishing
  5. Publication date
    November 3, 2009
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
  8. Print length
    288 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Elizabeth Hughes's is a small story, filled with the optimism of a 14-year-old with unbounded dreams. But there was nothing small about the discovery of insulin and the trials in August 1922 that saved Hughes and revolutionized the treatment of diabetes: patients in a wretched, depleted state... brought back from imminent death in what one researcher called near resurrections. Hughes lucked out: her father, Charles, as governor of New York and a GOP heavyweight, was able to get her into the original trial. Alternating the teen's painful, isolated childhood with the struggle of researchers hoping to save patients diagnosed with a then fatal disease, Cox (a historian at the University of the Pacific) weaves a compelling tale of commitment and discovery. Elizabeth always had confidence in her future, Cox writes, even as she withered away on a near-starvation diet—the only known treatment before insulin. Her saviors—including 1923 Nobel Prize winners Frederick Banting and John Macleod—ultimately reaped fame, glory and prizes, but found it tempered by bitterness and divisions within the team. Here is both a remarkable medical history and an inspiring lesson in hope. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Caroline Cox is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. She is the author of A Proper Sense of Honor: Service and Sacrifice in George Washington's Army. She has also written numerous articles for history publications and has appeared as a commentator on the History Channel.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kaplan Publishing; 1st edition (November 3, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1607145510
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1607145516
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

About the author

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Caroline Cox

Caroline Cox

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
14 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

tericat
5.0 out of 5 stars No less than Inspiring
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2017
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This is a fascinating story and very easy and readable. It relates the history of the discovery of insulin through a very personal story that keeps it from being simply dry facts and draws you in. The writing is wonderful and the research is impeccable. I have given it to several friends with Diabetes so they can appreciate how far we've come and the sacrifices made by those afflicted by this disease early on.
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Jill N. Cartwright
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, compelling read!
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2009
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I read this book in a single evening--I could not put it down. It is a compelling story, beautifully written, and meticulously researched by Caroline Cox. I loved it and will be giving copies to my friends and loved ones who have struggled with juvenile diabetes. It's also a great read for people interested in politics and law. The heroine's father was both Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at various points in his career. An inspiring, wonderful book!
2 people found this helpful
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Edward Carroll Jr
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2016
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good perspective on life before and after insulin.
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Dw Denning
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving story
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2010
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This is an extraordinarily well written story about a young girl with diabetes who survives against the odds. Her self discipline and courage comes across on every page. She is lucky that insulin became available when it did. Her prominent american family makes the historical backdrop all the more interesting.
5 people found this helpful
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Tabitha Davenport
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for anyone with or without diabetes
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2014
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Very interesting and insightful story of a young diabetic girl before insulin was founded, and how insulin changed her life.
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BOOKLOVER EB
5.0 out of 5 stars "Elizabeth rejected the identity of an invalid."
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2009
Caroline Cox's "The Fight to Survive" is the true story of Elizabeth Evans Hughes who, at the age of eleven, was diagnosed with what is known today as juvenile diabetes. In the twenty-first century, diabetes can be controlled with insulin and a proper diet, although there is still no cure. However, in the early nineteen hundreds, insulin was not yet available. Therefore, Elizabeth's only hope was to submit to an arduous regimen known as "starvation therapy," which was devised by Dr. Frederick Allen. Normally, a girl of Elizabeth's age would consume up to two thousand calories a day. However, for three years, she was forced to subsist on an average of eight hundred calories or less per day, in order "to prevent the sugar in her body from reaching toxic levels."

Cox admiringly depicts Elizabeth Hughes as a contented, self-disciplined, and grateful child who did as she was told. Her upbeat attitude helped her endure deprivation with relative equanimity. Although she was perpetually hungry and often physically weak, she found ways to occupy herself and take her mind off food. She read widely, socialized with friends, listened to music, enjoyed nature, wrote essays, and "tried her best in the face of enormous challenges to live well." She had self-confidence and enormous will power, and refused to be defined by her illness.

Elizabeth's father was Charles Evans Hughes, a lawyer who went on to hold important positions in the United States throughout his life: Governor of New York, Supreme Court Justice, Secretary of State, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. One would not blame Elizabeth if she had been somewhat spoiled, demanding of attention, and resentful of her parents' preoccupation with their social and political activities. On the contrary, she was appreciative of her devoted nurse, Blanche Burgess, and when she was separated from her mother and father, Elizabeth eagerly wrote to them and looked forward to their replies.

Cox lucidly and entertainingly recounts the tortuous path to the discovery of insulin. There was no sudden epiphany. It took years of tedious groundwork by a number of dedicated individuals to set the stage for the extraction of insulin and its production in sufficient quantity to help those who would surely die without it. In addition, doctors had to tinker with patients' diets to make sure that there was a proper balance between insulin and food intake. In 1922, Jim Havens became the first diabetic to get a shot of insulin. For him and many others, this breakthrough provided hope that diabetics could look forward to normal lives. For their role in bringing this lifesaving treatment to those in need, Frederick Banting and John Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923. "The Fight to Survive" is an inspiring and heart-warming book about the indomitable spirit of an enthusiastic and mature young lady who, although "she never ceased to suffer... took a positive pleasure in beauty in its many forms, sights, sounds, and textures." It is also an engrossing and informative account of a medical miracle that has made a huge difference in the lives of those stricken with a potentially devastating disease.

The author, who is an associate professor of history, has done her homework. The prodigious research that went into "The Fight to Survive" is apparent from Cox's extensive list of both primary and secondary sources. A well-organized and extremely detailed index is included.
6 people found this helpful
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Chris-O.
2.0 out of 5 stars Good, but basic
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2010
I got this book out of my college's medical library because I have type 1 diabetes and also am very interested in history. However, only a chapter into it, I'm very disappointed at the reading level. It might be appropriate for a high schooler or someone very new to the history of diabetes, but for someone accustomed to reading scholarly and literary historical work, it's too basic in tone, vocabulary, content, etc. I brought it along on a trip to read for fun, but I've already located a used book store near where I'm staying and am planning to go buy something else for that purpose. It's too bad, because this is an angle of the history of diabetes that hasn't received a lot of attention.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Leigh
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative yet very readable
Reviewed in Canada on October 11, 2012
Verified Purchase
Having grown up with a mother who is a type 1 diabetic, I never quite realized that we were different. Things that other people found strange or unusual were normal to all of us. When we go on long road trips we had to make sure are in in a town or close to a restaurant for lunch time, we always had chocolate or something sweet around just in case and it even wasn't that strange to see my mother with a tack stuck in the heel of foot unable to feel it, or to walk across hot pavement without a shoe that fell off her foot while she was walking and she didn't even realize it happened. When I was younger I did do projects on Banting and Best but found a lot of the information out there to be somewhat dry, more for an intellectual auidence of which I am not. I had briefly heard of Elizabeth Hughes mainly because she was the most famous of Dr. Banting's patients when he opened his clinic, but other than who her father was I knew nothing else. I decided to give this book a try, it was shorter than most so I figured even if it turned out to be dry and boring, I wouldn't have that long to struggle through it. Once I started to read this book I found it next to impossible to put it down again. Elizabeth Hughes is an amazing and courageous person. Through her eyes I could picture what my mother's childhood was like before she was diagnosed, feeling sick, tired, worn out, thirsty all the time. Like Elizabeth Hughes my mother often found herself alone in hospital rooms as her family came from a small town and couldn't afford to lost a day of work to come and be with her at all times, even though I know that probably hurt my grandmother not to be there. But unlike Elizabeth, my mother knew there was a treatment that would prolong her life for many years. I cannot imagine how frightening it would be to be that sick and have no hope that you will be saved but Elizabeth never gave up hope and like my mother did she went on to live a long and productive life. The book was a quick read, I finished it in a day and immediately looked to see if there was an audio version as my mother expressed an interest in the story, I haven't found one yet, but I hope that the publisher will released an audio version. It makes sense since a sympton of diabetes is loss of eyesight, so far she's just had to listen to my accounts of the story. Throughout my and my brother's lives we have lived in the shadow of diabetes, never realizing quite how it effected not just the life of our mother, but also our lives and that of my father. I loved reading this book and look forward to reading more about this subject, the human aspect is what makes this book so readable. You get to know not only Elizabeth, but also the doctors and medical experts who worked so hard to help her and other diabetic, you feel their frustration, you also get annoyed at how they can be stubborn at times, but ultimately when I finished reading this book I have to say I think it's one of the best books I have read in many years.
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