Bringing science to life in the ice hockey arena
Getinge’s solutions are bringing science to life in many ways and for the company’s employee Vadim Matitsyn, a reminder of this arrived in the shape of a young, fast-skating ice hockey forward who could keep up his passion for the game thanks to life-saving Life Science solutions.
“I was the assistant coach in Halmstad Hammers’ junior team in Sweden, and one day I saw one of our players inject insulin from a major Getinge customer to keep his diabetes under control,” Vadim recalls. “In that moment, the work I deal with every day turned into a real person, who can do what he loves because Getinge support pharmaceutical companies in providing safe solutions.”
The boy Vadim is talking about is called Victor Ring, who was 15 years old when he developed Type 1 diabetes five years ago.
“It appeared out of the blue. No one else in my family has diabetes, so it must have been something else that triggered it,” Victor says. “It’s a severe disease but I decided already from the start that I wouldn’t allow the condition to stop me from becoming the best hockey player I can be.”
He continues: “The insulin I use works great. Before Vadim told me about the role his company plays in the development of medicines, I didn’t reflect much on how mine was produced or transported safely. Now, I realize that I have a lot of skilled people to thank for being able to live a normal life and continue to pursue my hockey ambitions.”
Victor and Vadim have parted ways since that day in the ice hockey arena in the south of Sweden, just a few kilometers away from the Getinge village – the place where Getinge was once founded and a major hub for producing Life Science solutions.
Victor has moved on to play for another team and is happy that the insulin he takes keep giving him the opportunity to do what he loves. For Vadim, who used to play elite hockey himself, a growing family and his work in Getinge’s Life Science team take top priority these days.
“I have worked at Getinge for twelve years now. I knew from the start that our solutions made a huge difference, but it got a whole new dimension when I trained Victor and could see for myself how much the medicines, enabled by our solutions, means to the person who is waiting for them at the end of the chain.”