
The Diabetes Supplies Thief
Oren Liebermann is a CNN journalist based in Jerusalem who has received two Emmy awards and three Associated Press awards. His travel memoir, The Insulin Express, tells of his Type 1 diabetes diagnosis while globe trotting through 30 different countries. This is an excerpt.
I never see the bastards coming. There are two one driving the motorbike and the other sitting behind him. The second guy is the thief. The first is the getaway driver. Their target is a small pouch sticking about two inches out of my left cargo pocket. Im sure they think it has money since, somehow, I doubt they realize that no tourist would have his billfold hanging out of his pocket. Inside the pouch that I got from Etihad Airways on my way home after my diagnosis are my diabetic supplies: my blood sugar monitor, test strips, and about a third of an insulin pen. The red plaid pouch scores far more points for functionality than style.
They yank the pouch from my pocket as Cassie and I are walking to dinner along the river in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They make a left and speed off. I immediately start sprinting after them, running full speed for about fifty meters, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Without my diabetes supplies, I am left guessing at my blood sugar. My glucose monitor is the single most important piece of equipment for me to control my diabetes. I cannot imagine a life without it because there is no life without it.
I keep them in sight, but Im not exactly closing the gap. Its not that Im slow. Quite the contrary. I was the fastest Jew in my high school, which almost means somethin
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