Ryder was a person with type 1 diabetes, but no ordinary insulin user. At the age of four, he developed symptoms of diabetes mellitus, including greatly increased urine output, constant, intense thirst and significant weight loss. He had been taking insulin since July 15th 1922. He was given his first injections in Toronto by Dr Frederick Banting, when Banting was in charge of breakthrough trials with insulin. Ted Ryder was a five year old, 27- pound human skeleton when Banting began giving him insulin. Within a few months, he had come back to life and apparent good health, an exemplary instance of what even medical personnel were calling the ‘miracles’ wrought by insulin. When he died in 1993 at the age of 76, he became the world's first person to live 70 years with diabetes and probably the longest documented case of sustained insulin treatment in medical history. He was also the last survivor of the first twelve diabetes patients treated with insulin.