Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle
Cooper and Ainsberg present an inspirational record of how the confluence of just the right people at just the right time in just the right places launched a boon for diabetics the world over. When Elizabeth Hughes Gossett was laid to rest in 1981 at the age of 73, few people knew that, by all rights, she should never have lived long enough to enter high school, much less graduate college, marry, and have children. Fewer still may have known or appreciated that while still a child, she risked what little life she may have had left by participating in a medical experiment that, if successful, would save her own and millions of other lives. A remarkable story, made more so by the efforts of Frederick Banting, who tipped fate in Elizabeth’s favor. Just as the honeybee believes its wings will carry it through the air against all physical odds, Banting believed he could perfect a product—insulin—that would save the lives of diabetics. Bees fly and Banting did, and this account makes worthy reading. --Donna Chavez