The Insulin Express: One Backpack, Five Continents, and the Diabetes Diagnosis That Changed Everything

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.

Oren Liebermann has spent a decade in TV news and is currently a CNN International Correspondent based in Jerusalem. He is the recipient of two Emmy awards and three Associated Press awards. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on Valentine’s Day, 2014, in a local Nepalese clinic, he now works with organizations like the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to promote safe traveling for others with the disease. He founded the world travel blog 42nd Class with his wife, Cassie. They live in Jeursalem with their baby daughter, Noa.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the multiple Emmy award winning chief medical correspondent for CNN. Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon, plays an integral role in CNN's reporting on health and medical news for all of CNN's shows domestically and internationally, and contributes to CNN.com.