Johnny wants to solve the history of diabetes – Family – Corren.se

"As a senior, I do not earn a salary at the university, but I have to raise funds from different research funders to pay for the seven eight researchers in my group. cool today, "said Johnny with a smile and opening the door of the small, well-stocked office.

To get there, go to the oldest camel in the university hospital and ring at a locked door. "Academy Emeritus" stands on a sign. This is the name of the university workplace that offers retired professors who wish to continue working.

Johnny Ludvigsson works at 150%, according to his own estimate. What is he doing What he has done since the 1970s, trying to find the cause of unbearable type 1 diabetes that particularly affects children and adolescents. And to develop treatments that can cure or slow down the disease.

– No one has yet shown why some children contract type 1 diabetes. It has also not been possible to explain why more than twice as many people contract the disease as in the 1980s. or why Sweden has the highest frequency in the world after Finland, said Johnny.

In Sweden, more than 900 children have type 1 diabetes each year. What happens is that the body's immune system suddenly begins to kill the cells of the body that produce insulin, the substance that breaks down the blood sugar. To survive for the rest of his life, the patient has to regulate his insulin diet by means of injections or a pump, while maintaining a diet, an exercise, a sleep and other routines very meticulous.

Johnny was involved and facilitated several major studies to solve the mystery. One of the most important projects is ABIS, which started in 1997 and concerns all children in South East Sweden. There are 17,000 birth, healthy and sick children, to identify various factors that may be associated with type 1 diabetes.

Another example is the Barndiabetes Foundation, which he created in 1989 after being invited to the "Norrköping Café".

– The Östgötateatern set up a pie Astrid Lindgren and offered the first income to my research. But then, I suggested that the money would go to a fund and a week later, I could tell the TV program with Astrid Lindgren that the Barndiabetes Fund was created.

However, it is still difficult to conduct large-scale research on this disease.

"Research is expensive and not everyone works for free," said Johnny. There is always a lack of money.

He compares to cancer research. Your money flows in a completely different way, and the Cancer Fund and the Childhood Cancer Fund are absolutely not afraid of making significant contributions.

– Cancer is fatal, but also type 1 diabetes, and it is still unbearable.

Johnny believes that people mix types 1 and 2, the latter is sometimes called age-related diabetes and is often associated with lifestyle factors such as weight and diet.

"You may be thinking about her old aunt with diabetes because she was fat and she was eating too much cake, and then they think that those who fall ill can blame themselves. type 1 can not be linked to any lifestyle factor, we do not know what causes it.

The fact that Johnny Ludvigsson became a research scientist is a bit unlikely. He grew up on a small farm in Småland and no one in the area took the student.

But Johnny was doing well in school and his director had learned that the Sigtuna Humanist Learning Center wanted to mix up its student clientele and receive fellows.

"It was a completely different environment from the one I had come in. Full There the children went to the royal family, the nobility and the upper class.Palme had gone there.When I returned home to Smaland Once a man arrived, I wanted to shake my hand because I had greeted the crown prince.

Johnny was well placed in the new environment. But he never forgot, and today, when he comes to people who work with something concrete, he can feel that they are his friends.

It is in Sigtuna that he met Ulla, his wife for 52 years. This is Johnny's limpid memory.

– January 26, 1963 at 6:05 pm I only saw her from behind, she just said click. You do not know Then I had a lot of luck all his life.

What is she still working for, are you retired?

– I did not say I'm retired! No, but she accepted me as the one I am.

They live in Sturefors, near Linköping, but also have a summer camp near Kalmar Sund. There, Johnny built and built primarily so that there are now cottages for the five children and their families.

It's hard to understand how he did it with everything. He also painted paintings and plays different instruments, preferably accordion.

Most importantly, he tries to solve the mystery of type 1 diabetes.

"I have always told children that I was treating that I needed to cure the disease before I reached one hundred years old, and before that, I do not give up.