Hi type 1 here. Since our errant immunity is localized on the insulin producing beta cells being on immune supressants would still be better than being insulin deoendent. Type 1 diabetes is a wild condition, when my blood sugar drops, subsections of my brain switch off. Low sugars are very emotionally bleak. There is a whole set of post traumatic stressors as part of this. 35 years ago I could just walk into a pharmacy and buy insulin without a prescription, maybe the pharmacist might as a couple of questions to at least try and be sure I need it, and that insulin was maybe $30 cash with no insurance and that was enough for a month. So everything might be $70 for an entire month w 5 blood sugar tests per day. Now a months supplies is in the hundreds of dollars. This stuff doesn't involve much more to manufacture, just layers of beauracy and markups. So yes having to take a cheap pill or two every day with the worst case being a revertion to being insulin dependent is worthwhile. Now side effects of the immune drugs might maybe be worse, but I doubt that. And this is a pilot to get FDA approval to test genetically modified beta cells that a type 1 wont destroy. Thanks for any understanding and compassion you can bring to this discussion.

From the article:

> Because the woman was already receiving immunosuppressants for a previous liver transplant,

This makes sense - this was the first trial, so doing this on a person already on immunosuppressants minimizes risk while still validating the basics of if it works at all in the first place.

I believe it’s already reasonably common to give a person Type 1 diabetes a pancreas transplant if they have another transplant and will therefore be taking immunosuppressants anyway.

It’s true that you wouldn’t do this unless they were already needed, say, a liver transplant.

It seems from the article that it's harder to monitor, so by injecting in the abdomen they can monitor them using MRI and remove them if needed.

Stem cells are pretty good at moving around. If they don't want to stay in the pancreas, you won't be able to make them, and if they want to go to the pancreas, they will find their way there even if transplanted in a less invasive way.

> It's also important to not underestimate just how powerful lifestyle changes can be

Agreed, what's that phrase, "The best time to start was 20 years ago, the second best time is now"?

But it's also important to be a little kind to yourself, don't be too harsh on yourself for the things you didn't do or could have done differently. You can't go back in time.