Lynn Hopperstad Mitchell

Since 1968, when she was 10 years old, Lynn has battled diabetes. “I was always conscious of it,” she said. Lynn suffered from hypoglycemia unawareness. Her problems with hypo unawareness became a big issue when Lynn became single and her daughter was 10 years old. “My daughter would wake up if she heard me at night and sometimes I didn’t wake up in the morning. She would either need to call 911 or give me injections of glucagon because my blood sugar was low. She was always aware of how I was acting.”

A few years ago, Lynn’s endocrinologist, Dr. Paul Laedtke, told her she was a great candidate for an islet cell transplant. Lynn remembers, “When the Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation (DIIT) called me after they got my application and wanted me to come in for the screening, I literally hung up the phone and cried. Just to be picked for the transplant was so cool. It’s been fun for me to be at the forefront of islet transplantation and to be one of the people in the study. With people at work and in other areas of my life, I’m known of as ‘the transplant woman.’ I direct people to the website and try to drum up business for the DIIT’s annual fundraising event, The Lightning Run.”

Diabetes runs in Lynn’s family. Her sister died of complications from diabetes at age 33. Her older brother has four young children who are all at risk for inheriting the disease. The whole family is at risk.

Lynn is grateful to Dr. Hering of the DIIT and everyone on the DIIT staff for the help she’s received. Lynn says, “Those wonderful people at the DIIT are always available to help. They coordinate my information, answer questions about my latest worries and have a great working relationship with my internist and endocrinologist. Both the DIIT and the transplant has been a Godsend. It’s been such a wonder. There are no words to describe it. If I win the lottery someday, the money is going to the DIIT.”