Genealogy Chat

Hello, Today I have recieved my Grandmothers death cert..
I have dithered over ordering it for some time..
I was quite shocked to read the cause of death as I was sure it would have been a stroke...
I feel so so sad now I have seen it , as the Witness at time of death was Her Son who died a few years later..
CAUSE OF DEATH
a /Coma
b / diabetes Mellitus...Can someone explain it to me,
Thankyou
Christine x

hi there,
Just been on Wikepedia. Basically she had diabetes (unkown if she had it from little or it developed later on) and then had either a low sugar or high, can't remeber which way round it is and ended up in a coma. It can happen even today. Wikepedia gives you all the diferent types of the disease. So sad though

Hi and Thankyou Allison,
I am so shocked really, I know its silly...but I was so sure it must have been a stroke...
At least I know the address she died, Its my dearest wish to find where my Grandmother is buried...
At least I know now really and its just getting confirmation off the right dept ??
Thankyou x

A lot depends on when she died. Insulin only became available in the 1920's. Up till then diabetes would be fatal due to high blood sugar. If she died of a diabetic coma before this she would have had type 2 diabetes which you get in adulthood - this worsens over time. Type 1 diabetes starts in childhood and is much more severe, she would not have survived to adulthood with this.
If receiving insulin she would have been at risk of low blood sugar which can lead to rapid coma but treatable by giving sugar.
Jan

Hi Christine
On my grandmothers certificate it said
1a Carbuncle. skin infections are very common when there are high levels of glucose in the tissues, ideal conditions for bacteria. 1b Diabetes mellitus. Both Greek words, diabetes = ' a passer through a siphon' mellitus = sweet. In those days doctors possibily didn't know about the effects of high glucose levels on the blood vessels and the risk of stroke, heart attacks, gangrene, kidney failure and so on. but recognised he relationship. In my grandmother's case, no post mortem She had born 12 children and does look rather portly in photos.
Holamiga
ps Doctors used to taste urine to diagnose!!

Hello Jan,
Thankyou so much, So So sad...a Lady with such a hard life, My heart just aches for her..
Many thanks for explaining it all to me..
Christine x

Hello Holamiga..
Such a shame, Life was hard enough, Let alone having to cope with such illness..
Thankyou for sharing your story with me,
Christine x

A bit of a digression...

I got hold of a rellies WW1 service record. He served with the Canadian 58th (Central Ontario) Battalion and was wounded 26/10/1917 in the attack on the Bellevue spur in the approach to Passchendaele. His unit wasn't actually operating on the spur, but against a pillbox line in the flooded bog of the Ravebeek, and the atack stalled with fairly heavy losses. The unit to his left (the 43rd) was also held except on their extreme left on the drier ground of the spur proper where they managed to capture a couple of pill boxes. The attack was renewed a couple of days later, and working thru the captured gap, the pill box line was attacked from the rear and, one by one, bombed out. The 58th didn't participate in the resulting advance as they had to be replaced by the Princess Pat's. A week later, Passchendaele was captured - it cost 16000 Canadian dead and probably twice that wounded, just to provide Haig with some sort of victory to save his job.

My rellie proceeded back thru the regimental aid post, an Ozzie casualty clearing station, a general hospital in Boulogne to a Canadian hospital in the UK. His wound healed, but he'd had part of his calf shot away and, together with the scarring of the healed muscle, when he stood up, his calf wouldn't stretch out to allow his heel to meet the ground. His recovery was lengthy, and in the UK he was treated by an orthopedic guy, Dr Banting of the CAMC. After 8 months, he was returned to a reserve company, but the war ended before he was sent again to France.

Dr Banting later saw front-line action in the battle of Cambrai where he was wounded but carried on treating soldiers for 14 hours, and received the MC for this. When Banting got back to Canada, he, with some co-workers, developed animal extracted insulin as a treatment for diabetes. The Eli Lilly drug company developed a feasible method of large-scale production, and in 1922 insulin became available for general treatment. Banting later shared the Nobel prize for his insulin work.

Dear mgnv ,
I have just sat and read your reply...I am utterly speachless ,What an amazing heart wrenching story..
Dr Banting ...My God what a man..Can I ask you what became of your relative ? Did he live to a good age ?
All what you have written for me Is just fantastic, and has given me so much information..
I am so grateful, You helped me with my Grandmothers family ( Barrow from Kelloe) a long time ago..It took me such a long time to order the cert as I just was not sure about doing it and seeing what I would find.
I know now that she must be burried where I have always thought...and my quest to find whereabout in the church yard my Grandmother is buried continues...
Thankyou so very much
Christine x

My guy had emigrated from England abt 10 y earlier. His service record says he got 3 d special leave when he was posted to the reserve unit in 1918 in order to get married. It also says he didn't get a travel voucher. He wed a lass from his old neighbourhood, and his record also has her travel expense claim for travel to Ontario. They went on the same boat in 1919.

Banting had him wear a caliper on his leg with a fixed, but adjustable, sole plate, and every couple of weeks the toes were cranked up. Eventually, he did walk normally, but even so, he would start to limp a bit when he got tired. He lived for another 30+ years.

St Helen's, Kelloe is in quite an attractive setting. My ex's g grandad was baptized there in 1845. I found the record in the Durham bishop's transcripts on the LDS record search pilot site. I don't remember if I mentioned this as the online records would stop before your gran's time. Anyway, in case it's of use, "browse the record collection" at:
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start

(The bishop's transcripts are the church's own backup copy of the parish registers. Durham registers tend to be a bit more informative than most - my entry noted William was the 2nd son of William Benson and Isabella (late Douglas) - extra info you won't find in most counties.)

Hi Christina, Im a diabetic, a type 2 which was diagnosed when I was 35,but I.m a nurse too so maybe I can help.I do know that if a diabetic has a Hypo meaning her blood sugar dropped so low and they = nurses drs etc werent able to bring her levels up to normal then she would become unconcious and go into a coma, and if it wasnt known what was happenning and still werent able to get her blood sugars up by getting sugars or glucose into her she probably would pass away in those days

Dear mgnv.. Oh what an amazing story, I am so glad your relative went on for many years after and that he was able to marry and lead a life after such a horrible horrible time...bless him .
Thankyou for all the other info you have added for me too..I will have a look and see what I can find. I love St Helens..I will be there again in August...I know Lily (Lowther) is there I just know it...As must be her Husband ( my Grandad) and one other of their Sons.....No wonder my Dad wanted to be there....
Thankyou mgvn..
You have been brilliant
Christine x

Dear Cos,
It was very good of you to share that information with me...It does help me understand thankyou...As if she diddent have enough to cope with bless her..
Many thanks
Christine x

Whenever I think of the discovery of insulin I think of the two B's Banting and Best, the latter a medical student who assisted him. Banting shared the Nobel prize with John McCloud for Physiology in Medicine 1923. Banting was furious that Best wasn't acknowledged.
Miraculous though the discovery was the irony is that many in the medical research community
believe that total reliance on treatment, (a miracle for drug companies) lead to apathy in finding a cure. Transplanting the pancreas or the cells which produce insulin have proved disappointing.