Oren's Story

Three months after my diagnosis with type 1 diabetes, I found myself on the Great Wall of China, hours away from the nearest hospital or semblance of medical help. It may not have been the smartest decision, but nothing about my diagnosis was smart. 

I was diagnosed in Pokhara, Nepal on Valentine's Day 2014 at the age of 31. I had been showing symptoms for 2 months - constant thirst, rushing to the bathroom, cramps, and weight loss - but I wrote them off as a consequence of traveling. My wife and I were halfway through a year of backpacking around the world, and all of the symptosm seemed like natural byproducts of travel. 

Or so I thought. My refusal to admit to myself that I had a problem led to me spending a week in two different hospitals in Nepal before I was cleared to fly home. I spent a month at home, putting on weight, learning about diabetes, and figuring out how to manage my blood sugars. 

Then my wife and I got back on the road. Like I said, not the smartest decision. And yet I consider it the most important decision of my life. I knew then that if I immediately accepted limitations because of diabetes, I would always accept limitations. If I said "no" the first time, it would be far easier to say "no" again. 

So we picked up our trip where we left off - in Southeast Asia. A few weeks later, we found ourselves on the Great Wall of China, spending a night in an ancient guard tower (somewhat illegally). It was my first time since my diagnosis that I was far away from a hospital. I saw it, in many ways, as a test of my own determination and control of diabetes.

We hiked along the Great Wall for two days, and I cannot describe to you in any words I know how incredible it was. The Great Wall seems beyond human in a way, and it's size is difficult to grasp. But more important to me was simply the fact that I was on the Great Wall, enjoying every moment of my life and not letting diabetes interfere.

At the end of my trip, I wrote a book about my diagnosis and my perspective. It's called "The Insulin Express: One Backpack, Five Continents, and the Diabetes Diagnosis That Changed Everything."

https://www.amazon.com/Insulin-Express-Continents-Diagnosis-Everything/dp/1510718486

Oren Liebermann