I'd like to tell you about a giant I knew.

[trof]

His name was Seale Harris.
A google search will get you in excess of 300,000 hits.
http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=seale+harris&btnG=Google+Search

He was the father of a close friend of my mother's.
She was a widow and mom was divorced and they were best friends.
We spent a lot of time at our friend's home, occasionally spending the week end.
In his later years, "Boo" (as his granddaughter and I called him) lived there too.
He was my surrogate grandfather-in-residence.

In the mornings he'd let me stand on the toilet and watch him shave.
I was fascinated.
Then he'd take his shaving brush and lather me up and hand me his Gillette Safety Razor.
(I later figured out that he'd taken the blade out.)
Then I'd 'shave'.
Definitely the high point of my morning.

He told me lots of stories.
My favorites were about Indians.
Not cowboys and Indians, just Indians.

Years later he had a stroke and, in my teens, I became his babysitter.
When his daughter was going out in the evening I'd come over and sit with Boo.
His stroke affected him physically, but not his speech or his mind.
God, I wish I had tapes of our conversations.
I remember very little of them now.
Anyway...here's Boo:


Born in Cedartown, Georgia on March 13, 1870 and nicknamed "the Benjamin Franklin of Medicine" by contemporaries for his leadership and writing on a wide range of medical and political topics, Dr. Seale Harris' most celebrated accomplishment was his 1924 discovery of hyperinsulinism.

Working with diabetic patients using the newly discovered miracle drug insulin, Harris noticed that patients who received too much insulin would experience low blood sugar symptoms such as weakness, headaches, mood swings, shakiness, forgetfulness, anxiety and irritability.

He also noticed they had a pronounced tendency to gain weight.

Harris correctly guessed that many of his overweight non-diabetic patients were also getting too much insulin—not from insulin injections, but because their own pancreases were overproducing insulin because of the food they were eating.

Using food as his only medicine, Harris successfully developed a weight loss diet to help his patients control their insulin levels and their weight by eating for stable blood sugar.

Boo wrote "Banting's miracle; the story of the discoverer of insulin" and "Woman's Surgeon; The Life Story of J. Marion Sims." among others.

There is a children's diabetic camp named for him on Lake Martin in Alabama.
http://www.southeasterndiabetes.org/


"Each of the Children’s Programs are filled with FUN activities! Laughter abounds from the ball field to the swimming pool! Groups of children, supervised by counselors trained in the care of diabetes, rotate through the many recreational activities. (Many of our counselors also live with diabetes!)

Diabetes Education is the key element of Southeastern Diabetes Education Services programs. In addition to structured daily education sessions, numerous teachable moments occur throughout each day as children encounter the challenges of living with diabetes.
A comprehensive medical team, including physicians, nurses, nutritionists, pharmacists and educators, provide care and education to the children during their attendance."

I just think he should not be forgotten.
:-)

[trof]

1. Kick. Just because.

[cwydro]

2. And I'll kick too

Nice post.

[Bunny]

3. That's so interesting.

I was diagnosed with something like hyperinsulinism exactly one year ago. I take medication and try (with varying levels of success) to watch my food intake.

How amazing that you knew this man!