Here is our original letter hunting for help. We found a diabetes portal and emailed the lady there , Deb, who put us in contact with Dr. Sutherland! Unfortunately , we were sidetracked thinking that sphincterotomies would work and wasted valuable time. Hopefully our ordeal will save others from making the same costly mistake!!

Subj: RE: info on islet transplants Date: 11/28/00 12:16:50 PM Pacific Standard Time From: DButterfield@InsulinFree.org (Butterfield, Deb)To: FLAHAIR2@aol.com ('FLAHAIR2@aol.com')CC: dsuther@tc.umn.edu ('dsuther@tc.umn.edu')

Dear Celeste and Jerry,I am sorry to hear of your illness ... pancreatitis is really a terriblecondition. The person to contact is Dr. David Sutherland ... he is thepioneer of the procedure to remove the pancreas and replace the personsislets to avoid diabetes. You can contact him at dsuther@tc.umn.eduBest,Deb Butterfield

Subj: Fwd: RE: info on islet transplants Date: 11/29/00 11:33:57 AM Pacific Standard Time From: dsuther@maroon.tc.umn.edu (DERS)To: FLAHAIR2@aol.comCC: papas001@maroon.tc.umn.edu (Ann Marie Papas), DButterfield@Insulin-Free.org (Butterfield, Deb)
Dear Mrs ,If the diagnois is correct, your husband appears to be a candidate fortotal pancreatectomy and islet autotransplantation(his own islets, isolatedfrom his own pancreas after removal, and then reinfused into his portalvein at the same surgery, where they will lodge in the liver and produceinsulin as needed and prevent diabetes.). Total pancreatectomy completelyrelieves the pain in about 80% of cases, partially in another 15%, and doesnot in about 5 %. The islet autotransplant prevents diabetes in at leasthalf of the cases, in more if glucose tolerance is normal presurgery. If weget 3000 islets per kg it nearly always works, but we dont know the yieldin advance.If your husband wants to avail himself of this option, he can contact AnnMarie Papas in my office at 612-625-7600, and she will set up a consult orarrange for him to come for an evaluation followed by surgery, if we agreeapprorpriate, after gettting insurance approval, etc. A request forconsult by one of his doctors would help, along with forwarding pertinentmedical infomration.If you want to talk to patients who have had this operation, Ann Marie canprovide some names and numbers. Also, our experience up to 1995 isdescribed in an article in Nov 1995 Annals of Surgery. We have doubled thenumber of patients since then. It is a hard disease to understand and treat, so his experience istypical of the patients we see, but almost for sure he can be helped.David Sutherland, M.D.