FAMILY PINS HOPES ON RESEARCH
BY MARTHA STODDARD -- Lincoln Journal Star

   Sticking needles into her son, teaching him to stick needles into himself, collecting his urine and testing it for sugar, learning to feed him on schedule, warning him not to eat whatever he wanted.
   And watching him, always watching, for signs he was going into potentially deadly insulin shock.
    All these were easier for Jan Leeper to handle than the worries about her son's future.
    Worries that have grown as her son grew - and as the risks mount that years of diabetes have irreparably harmed his eyes, feet, heart, kidneys and blood vessels, and that the disease will cut years off his life.
    "Very frankly, diabetes blinds, cripples and kills," she said.
    That's why Leeper and her husband, Steve, support human embryonic stem cell research. The Lincoln couple believe the research offers the best hope of finding a cure for diabetes - or at least an effective treatment - before time runs out for their 36-year-old son.
    Researchers hope to direct stem cells into becoming the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas, the cells that are destroyed by diabetes. If their efforts succeed, stem cells could produce unlimited supplies of replacement cells for diabetics.     "The reason embryonic stem cell research is so important is it will quicken the process of finding a cure," Jan Leeper said. "That's where we come from in this issue. We're for the life of those who are suffering."

Jan and Steve Leeper worry about the future for their son, Mark, who has diabetes. The Leepers support human embryonic stem cell research because they believe it holds the best chance of finding a cure for diabetes. WILLIAM LAUER/Lincoln Journal Star

    The Leepers' saga began Sept. 18, 1971, as the No. 1-ranked Huskers crushed the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Memorial Stadium.
    Steve Leeper had taken Mark, then 7, to watch the game. Only a few plays into the game, Mark was begging for a Coke. Then he wanted to go to the bathroom, then another Coke, followed by another trip to the bathroom, followed by another Coke."
   "I was beginning to get extremely irritated that he was interfering with the Huskers," his father said, "until I looked at him. He looked terrible."
    The diagnosis was Type I - often called juvenile - diabetes. A host of changes followed as the family learned about the disease and adopted the regimen required to keep it under control.
    "You go into grief. You no longer have a healthy child," Jan Leeper said. "This is something that can't be fixed."
    One way the Leepers coped was by starting a Lincoln chapter of the fledgling Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, now the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Through that group, they learned of the advances in diabetes treatment: fingerstick blood glucose monitors, insulin pumps, laser treatments for diabetic retinopathy and more.
    They also learned of the latest hopes for a cure.

COURTESY PHOTO Mark Leeper holds newborn daughter Hannah as he sits with 5-year-old daughter Emily and wife Mary Beth.

    Steve Leeper first heard about the idea of beta cell transplants at a 1979 JDF conference in St. Louis. Two decades later, that dream remains unfulfilled. But he believes it may yet become reality.
    "I have always felt since then the answer for our son was going to be walking into a doctor's office and getting an injection of cells as needed," he said. "It just looms huge as THE answer for insulin-dependent diabetics."
    Embryonic stem cells now offer the best chance of realizing that dream, he said.
    The Leepers know the research is controversial because it means destroying embryos, the earliest stage of human development. Even some members of JDRF oppose the research, although the organization officially supports it.
    But embryos used for research are leftovers from in vitro fertilization and are destined to be destroyed anyway, the Lincoln couple argues. They should be used for good rather than be thrown out, they said.
    And maybe, just maybe, the results would allow Mark Leeper, now an associate political science professor at Wayne State College, to watch his pre-school and infant daughters grow up.
    "It's very possible that down the road this will not be the answer," Jan Leeper said, "but we won't know it unless we try it."
    Reach Martha Stoddard at 473-7245 or mstoddard@journalstar.com.