This Woman Designed—And Texts—Her Own Pancreas
Dana Lewis texted her pancreas on Thursday. Of course, the text wasn't the typical "Hey, what's up?" or "You free tonight?" Instead, it was a command to give her blood's glucose level a little boost - she needed to give herself a bit of a buffer ahead of a big speech.
As you might have guessed, Lewis' pancreas isn't typical, either. It's a DIY model that the health communications professional built in 2013 and has been refining since. It uses hardware to help her insulin pump and glucose-monitoring device work together. It communicates with her phone, too. But here's the real innovation: her "pancreas" can mostly take care of her insulin without her intervention - meaning she doesn't have to continually fiddle with shots or check her insulin levels. She can just live her life.
As you might have guessed, Lewis' pancreas isn't typical, either. It's a DIY model that the health communications professional built in 2013 and has been refining since. It uses hardware to help her insulin pump and glucose-monitoring device work together. It communicates with her phone, too. But here's the real innovation: her "pancreas" can mostly take care of her insulin without her intervention - meaning she doesn't have to continually fiddle with shots or check her insulin levels. She can just live her life.