Meet the non-profit that has its sole employee working to fund the cure for Diabetes.
Melanie Hibbard is the executive director for the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation Canada, or DrifCan. The work of the non-profit is to fundraise for the research being done by Dr. James Shapiro at the U of A. Over the last 25 years, Shapiro has led research into a procedure called the Edmonton Protocol, which has seen medical teams from several countries come to Edmonton to be trained in the technique.
She was in Lloydminster recently to speak at the Diabetes Education Night hosted by the SHA and the Lloydminster Lions.
“Our mission is to accelerate the cure for Diabetes by directly funding Dr. James Shapiro and his team at the Alberta Diabetes Institute at the University of Alberta,” says Hibbard.
Insulin was discovered in 1921 at the University of Toronto.
“Prior to that, a person who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes – it was a fatal diagnosis,” says Hibbard. Fast-forward to the present, where it’s the 25th year of the Edmonton Protocol, but Hibbard acknowledges there is work still to be done.
“They take a cadaver pancreas. They literally shake out islets and transplant them into a Type 1 Diabetic’s liver. And they live Diabetes free,” says Hibbard. “The reason why it is not a cure is because those patients take anti-rejection drugs. When you have one treatment and you exchange it for another, it’s not a cure.”
The Edmonton Protocol has saved the lives of numerous people, including in Lloydminster.
“The longest person with an islet transplant has lived for 19 years Diabetes free.”
Learning from using islet transplants, medical researchers are now switching to stem cell transplants.
“So, what Dr. Shapiro and his team started in 2019 is using your own stem cells. So, they could eliminate the need for anti-rejection drugs,” says Hibbard.
DrifCan aims to use 90 per cent of funds raised to go directly to research.
“We are a very low administration organization, and I am the sole employee. We have five board members. And I am proud to say that for the last four years we accomplished our 90 per cent,” beams Hibbard.
In 2024, DrifCan raised $2.5 million from people giving, of which 90 per cent went to the research led by Dr. James Shapiro.
More information on DrifCan is available online.
