Do you know why today’s important? It’s the 86th anniversary of the first insulin injection. I realize this isn’t the type of holiday you’ve got marked on the calendar — and good luck getting the boss to give you the day off! — but it is kind of cool.

Fred Banting, a Canadian who served with distinction during World War 1, spent his life dedicated to diabetes research. A talented physician, he pioneered the treatment of diabetes with injectable insulin. The first insulin injection was given to Leonard Thompson, in 1922. Thompson lived 13 years under Banting’s care — at a time when diabetes was a far more fatal condition than it is today.

We’ve come a long way since that first shot! Banting, with his hypodermic, would have been astonished to see today’s insulin pens and jets, not to mention external insulin pumps! The fact that inhaled insulin — where insulin is delivered via inhaler, similar to the way asthmatics take their medication — is on the horizon is even better.

Still, Banting’s work was absolutely groundbreaking, and laid the foundation for the convenient treatment options we have available to us today. He, along with colleague J.J.R. MacLeod, were awarded the Nobel Price for Medicine in 1923 in recognition of their achievement.

So today, when you reach for your pen, or your pump is quietly working along, take a moment to smile and say “Thanks, Fred!”