Recent diabetes studies give parent new hope BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer Noah Errichetti HAZLET — When Julie Errichetti brought her son Noah to the doctor nearly five years ago, she thought it was just a virus or infection that would pass briefly. “I thought it would be a quick visit to the pediatrician and that would be it,” Julie said. What she thought would be a quick visit turned into a nearly week-long stay at Jersey Shore Medical Center. Noah’s pediatrician diagnosed him as having type 1 diabetes, a disorder caused by the body’s inability to produce sufficient insulin. Upon learning of this development, Julie was “shocked and stunned.” “The doctor saw that his blood sugar was very high, and so that’s when I was told about him having diabetes,” Julie said. “I would never wish this upon anybody, especially a young child.” For many years, Julie has been looking for a glimmer of hope, a sign that maybe Noah, 6, would not have to be dependent on the insulin pump he has used for the past two years, or an indication that he wouldn’t need to be checked occasionally in the school nurse’s office at Raritan Valley Elementary School. Enter Dr. Denise Faustman. Faustman, the director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Im-munobiology Laboratory, Boston, recently discovered that spleen cells can transform into insulin-producing, diabetes-reversing cells. Earlier tests using injected cells were able to cure diabetes in laboratory mice. “In the short term, it’s a new way to look at type 1 diabetes,” Faustman said. Faustman has teamed up with the Iacocca Foundation Campaign to raise $11 million for clinical trials with diabetes. The campaign is something that holds personal significance for the former Chrysler CEO, because his wife, Mary, died of the disease over 20 years ago. Julie found out about Faustman and the campaign through some research of her own. “I was on the Internet just to see what I could find, and a friend forwarded an article to me about Dr. Faustman and her research and what she was doing with it, and I thought it was pretty amazing,” Julie said. “I also found information on the Iacocca Foundation as well, and I think it says something about Lee Iacocca himself when he donates $1 million of his own money. That says to me that he believes in the research that is happening.” Until there is a cure for Noah and 18 million others who are afflicted, Julie continues to do what she can to make him more comfortable. Part of that is just letting him do what so many other kids his age like to do. “He’s very into sports and video games. He’s a great kid who just wants to have fun with his friends,” Julie said. “He’s also looking forward to playing tee-ball for the first time this spring.” While he waits for the snow to melt and the flowers to bloom, Noah and his mom can know that people like Faustman and Iacocca are doing what they can to make sure that sometime, hopefully soon, he can run the bases without having to think about all that he has gone through in his young life.