Day 3: A Visit to the Banting House

I was excited for this day..ever since I'd found out (via Twitter)that it was A.near Niagara Falls and B. fairly accessible and C. a smashing place to visit(compliments of Virtue's post). Oh wow,was I excited.(more like,unable to be lived with) On day 3, we bid adeau to Niagara Falls(more on that later) & drove due west about two hours to the lovely little town of London,Ontario.(near Paris,& the Themes River.I guess they wanted a little slice of Europe)


It was just off a main road,& there was plenty of free parking. Went inside,where the tour guide greeted us & took us on a tour(we were the only one's there that day,& defiantly the only Americans) At the end of the tour,we paid $10, and then went back to look things over more throughly.


(Banting's flat screen tv)

The journey began in this room,where we heard about Queen Elizabeth II's trip over there,to dedicate the Eternal Flame.





I know you can't see the flame,but it's up there. Some doofus vandalized it once..and the weather has put it out,but it is supposed to burn,until there is a cure.And was that ever a tear inducer,I could tell that the whole tour I'd be choking back & trying not to have a breakdown.Will there ever be a cure?


(the special tea set they had made for her visit)


And then we tromped upstairs,where the most important room was. The room where young Banting had his billion dollar idea,on the morning of Oct.20,1920.(Banting lived in the house for 10 months)



Sat on the bed...



Signed the guest book..


Went into another room,& viewed five year old Teddy Ryder's pics(70 years on insulin) and letter to Dr.Banting.





And Banting's Nobel Prize:











In his later years,Banting did mustard gas experiments on his leg(& they almost had to amputate it). He died in a plane accident in 1941, off the Newfoundland coast.(perhaps due to German sabatouge)





(door stop of old insulin vials..a fitting tribute to him)













Banting was 29 when he discovered insulin...and hearing that made me considerably happier,because perhaps there's hope for me yet.(as that number looms before me,taunting me with the nearness of 30)



(the time capsule that the discoverors of THE CURE for diabetes,will open) Yes,at that point I had to break out the tissues.

































(Banting was also an artist,& there was a room full of his art)









Some (ok,most) will say that the biggest Canadian contribution to the world at large is hockey,& certainly the game would be the lesser were it not for those Hall of Fame greats. But I say, Canada's Greatest Contribution is insulin..& the first thing that comes to mind, when I think of the Land of the Maple Leaf. I wish all Canadians learned about it in school.(it seemed to be a very sparsely attended tourist destination) A world without insulin,would be a world minus millions of us. It would have eventually been discovered,but it came just in time for thousands of T1 PWD.


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