Family Tree

Why type one diabetes develops is still a relatively unknown. We do know that it is an autoimmune disease where the white blood cells turn their sights on the pancreas's beta cells in the islets of Langerhans. Type 1 onset usually occurs following a cold or illness, while the white blood cells are active against other foreign bodies or viruses.

But the big question is why. Why does the body suddenly turn on itself? Were beta cells an anomaly at one point in our ancestry, where the immune system acted rightfully to kill off the insulin making cells? Why else would the body sense that the beta cells were foreign bodies, the same way people with Celiac disease target gluten?

Or is it just a genetic defect, passed down from generation to generation? Are some people's bodies just genetically disposed to, at some point in their life, setting its own immune system out to destroy the beta cells in the islets.

It takes no more than a glance at my father's family tree to recognize that type 1 diabetes is definitely, for us at least, a genetic trait.

This simplistic format shows my father's brothers and sisters, and their children. The solid blue dots represent those of us who have/had type one diabetes. My aunt to the far left passed away of diabetic complications in the 1930's. My two female cousins developed type one diabetes later in life, relatively speaking to most folk's diagnosis.  

Nothing really more to be said here in conclusion. Just that although for some people it can be an unusual blip in the family history, but for some of us, like me, it is definitely an inherited trait. One that we can only hope will not be passed down to the next generation. Perhaps we can hold out hope for a vaccine or genetic therapy prevent type one from developing in our offspring. I'm sure my cousins and I would be very open to it.