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  3. The Insulin Express

EBOOK

The Insulin Express

One Backpack, Five Continents, and the Diabetes Diagnosis That Changed Everything

Oren Liebermann
5
(4)
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Pages
224
Year
2017
Language
English
Publisher
Skyhorse

About

A travel memoir through thirty countries, a thousand insulin injections, and one man's journey from despair to confidence. With tips and information from the American Diabetes Association.

In the middle of a yearlong backpacking trip around the world with his wife, Oren Liebermann is teaching English to young Buddhist monks in Pokhara, Nepal, when his body begins to fail him. He is constantly thirsty and exhausted, and by the time he steps on a scale, he has lost forty-five pounds. At a local clinic, a doctor gives him a diagnosis that will change his life forever: "I'm sorry to tell you, my friend, that you are a diabetic."

Devastated, Liebermann is trapped in a freezing hospital room, trying to recover enough to fly home. His friends and family urge him to call off the rest of his trip. He had quit his job as a TV news reporter for this dream-come-true journey, but the nightmare diagnosis has thrown his world into disarray. However, Liebermann and his wife, Cassie, make a decision. They have an adventure to finish, and he has the rest of his life to live.

Bold, raw, and poignantly candid, The Insulin Express tells the story of what happens when the best-made travel plans are subject to the ever-present chaos of life, and how a major setback can turn into the opportunity of a lifetime. Despite struggling with a chronic disease that almost kills him in the Himalayas, Liebermann hikes along the Great Wall of China, conquers the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and sips cobra whiskey in Laos. What begins as a travel chronicle across thirty countries transforms into a single journey of resilience and self-discovery-going from hopelessly lost and then wonderfully found.

Related Subjects

  • Essays & Travelogues
  • Travel
  • Adult Nonfiction
  • Memoirs
  • Biography & Autobiography
  • Adventure
  • Special Interest
  • Diabetes
  • Diseases & Conditions
  • Health & Fitness
  • Disability

Reviews

"This unusual combination of medical and travel memoir offers candid testimony to human resilience. It also manages to be funny, relatable, and inspiring at the same time. Readers will be motivated to update their passports or, at the very least, try something new. Liebermann hits the mark with his engrossing literary debut."
Booklist
"The Insulin Express is a very special, exciting book . . . Oren Liebermann becomes a friend as he takes his readers on a remarkable journey."
Eleanor Bobrow, Host, Take Charge of Your Life (WDIY/NPR)
"A must-read for anyone who loves travel, cares about their health, or just likes to have coffee with a good friend. That's the way The Insulin Express feels-like a long overdue chat with a buddy who's had some pretty amazing adventures . . . [and who] teaches us all a lot about life and love."
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent

Artists

Oren LiebermannAuthor