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Planet's Oldest Diabetic:
Gladys C. Lester Dull, Age 90, Living with Type l
Diabetes for 83 years
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Source:

"50 Secrets of the longest living people with diabetes",
Coldberg and Edelman, Marlowe & Co,
2007, pp xxxvi-xxxvii.xxxxx





   Gladys C. Lester Dull, a Walla Walla, Washington


resident since 1938 who has been on insulin


injections just slightly longer than Bob Cleveland


has-since November of 1924, a couple of months


before she turned 7 years old. To our knowledge,


she is the longest-living person with diabetes to


date.   (2007-1924=83 years on insulin)


   Born in North Dakota, she lost her birth parents


during a flu epi- demic in 1920 when she was only


3 years old. Fortunately, she and one other


sisters were soon adopted and raised by some


neighbors who were part of the farming community


there. She remembers feeling sick before her


diagnosis and needing to urinate all the time.


After traveling the nine miles from where they


lived in the country to the nearest doctor, she


was diagnosed with diabetes, but the small-town


doctor didn't know how to treat it. He suggested


that her adoptive parents take her to the Mayo


Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which they


consented to do. Gladys remembers the long train


trip from her home to the clinic, where she was


immediately admitted to the hospital for treatment


with the newly available, Lilly-made insulin.


    "I remember the first shot I got and being scared


of it," Gladys recalls more than eight decades


later. "The needles back then were a lot more


painful than they are now-and a lot more


expensive." Her mother had to go to classes at the


Mayo Clinic to learn what to do for her, including


weighing wax figures of food that were a certain


number of grams. "My mother weighed everything out


for me after that," she says. "She'd let me have


one gram more than what I was supposed to have."


Since she wasn't allowed to eat candy anymore, her


grandfather used to buy her a newspaper to read


(for the comics) instead, which almost made up for


the one piece of candy a week she used to get on a


trip into town.


     Gladys has enjoyed the support of family and


friends for all of her life with diabetes,


including her husband, George Dull, with whom she


enjoyed a 59-year marriage that ended in 2002 with


his passing. Married in 1943 during WWII, she and


her husband (who was born in 1915) were separated


for two and a half years while he was sta- tioned


overseas with his Army unit. Later, after his


return, they moved to Walla Walla, where she has


lived ever since and worked part-time in a


portrait studio for 30 years. At the age of 30,


she gave birth to her only child, Norm Dull, who


lives in a nearby town in Washington State.


Amazingly, she has outlived all four of her


brothers and sisters, two of whom were older, the


other two younger, and all diabetes-free. Her last


sister recently died from Alzheimer's disease (of


which Gladys has absolutely no signs, even though


the risk is possibly higher in people with


diabetes), "After seeing what my sister went


through, I would much rather be diabetic than have


Alzheimer's," Gladys says.


     This spunky 90-year-old with diabetes attributes


most other suc- cess to being active most of her


life and to sticking to her diet. "When I was


younger, I did everything-horseback riding,


cycling, snow- roobiling, motorcycle riding-I


always stayed active." In addition, because of her


early training, to this day Gladys can still tell


approx- imately how much a serving of any food


weighs, and she still watches her portions


strictly. "I give my mother credit for that," she


says. "She was strict with me, and I thank her for


it now." Her son also credits Gladys with raising


him on her diet, saying, "I still eat lots of


veggies, thanks to Mom." Her diet doesn't vary


much, and neither do her insulin requirements.


    In all likelihood, another other secrets is the


fact that she has reli- giously taken her insulin


shots since they first saved her life back in.


1924. "I have never missed a shot in all these


years," she affirms. "To date, I've had over


60,000 of them." Taking injections is just a small


price to pay for her longevity, though. May we all


strive to live so long and do so well with


diabetes!