When Bermudian Ms Deborah Butterfield was diagnosed with diabetes 24 years ago, she believed she would be afflicted with it for the rest of her life.

In 1993, following a successful new form of surgery, she walked away free of the disease, which is a a leading cause of blindness and kidney failure.

Ms Butterfield, now 35, decided to undergo the surgery after the disease began to severely restrict her lifestyle five years ago.

By the age of 30 she had already undergone numerous laser surgeries to save her vision, had a close call with heart disease, and also suffered kidney failure and couldn't walk without the use of a cane and later a leg brace.

Now, thanks to a successful pancreas and kidney transplant the Bermuda High School graduate now lives a healthy insulin-free lifestyle in New York City.

Ms Butterfield was diagnosed with type one diabetes -- the leading cause of kidney disease, blindness, heart disease and amputations.

In 1992, she learned about recent developments in pancreas transplantation. At first, she was hesitant to try such drastic measures but she scheduled an appointment anyway.

After 11 months of waiting, Ms Butterfield finally found a donor. In April, 1993 she underwent a kidney and pancreas operation only to suffer through viral infections caused by her body rejecting the organs.

During that time, she painfully watched 33 people go through transplant operations and walk away free from diabetes.

Seven months after her first two transplants, Ms Butterfield tried again. This time she went to Dr. David Sutherland at the University of Minnesota Hospital.

This hospital has performed more pancreas transplants than any other institution. It took another nine months for her to find organs that were compatible.

This time, the surgery worked with only a few minor bouts with rejection that she soon overcame.

The only drawback for her is that she has to take a drug for the rest of her life to regulate her immunity to infections that can destroy her new kidney and pancreas.

Ms Butterfield is working on research to develop another type of cure that would rule out the need for surgery and drugs that involves transplanting islet cells which make insulin in the body.

By injecting the cells into the liver of a diabetes sufferer, the risk of organ transplants can be avoided.

In Ms Butterfield's case the risk of not having the transplant was far greater than carrying on without it.

In publishing her story Ms Butterfield wants to give some semblance of hope to the many people in Bermuda suffering from diabetes.

Dr. Sutherland will be arriving in Bermuda in September to speak to the Bermuda Diabetes Association about diabetes and the new treatments being developed to combat this disease its symptoms.

Diabetes study: Page 5