Leonard Thompson - first human to be treated with Insulin

On 11th January 1922, at the Toronto General Hospital, a young boy called Leonard Thompson, who had been diagnosed in 1920 at the age of 11, became the first human to be injected with insulin. Like many others, he was near to death and already spending most of his time in bed. Leonard agreed to be injected with the new 'insulin' drug and it saved his life - and that of millions of others with diabetes worldwide.

Leonard was diagnosed in 1919, by December 1921 he was just 65 pounds, only skin and bones and close to death.

Leonard Thompson's pancreas was preserved and is displayed as item 3030 in the anatomical museum at the Banting Institute.

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