dLifeTV Airs Gripping First Hand Account of Only Known Nazi Concentration Camp Survivor with Type 1 Diabetes

"I now prayed with all my heart that it would not take too long to reach our next destination for a journey of more than three days without insulin would never get me there alive…" — Ernest Sterzer, Holocaust survivor with Type 1 diabetes.

WESTPORT, Conn., Jan. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Surviving the brutal inhuman conditions of the Nazi concentration camps is a harrowing tale. But doing so at 17 years old with Type 1 diabetes is a miracle that everyone should hear about. This story is told on dLifeTV in an emotional interview about a survivor, Ernest Sterzer, the only known person with Type 1 diabetes to survive the Nazi death camps. His story is told through his brother, Fred, who was with him for most of their time in Theresenstadt, a ghetto for many Jews, and then Auschwitz, the infamous death camp, and bore witness to Ernest's struggle to find insulin to survive.

Ernest was diagnosed at age 3, lucky enough that insulin had been discovered a few years before. But a decade later, in 1938, he and his family were living in Austria when Germany invaded. Both brothers and parents were moved to Theresenstadt and then to Auschwitz, where their parents were separated and murdered.

dLifeTV recounts Ernest's amazing journey of survival – trading bread for insulin in one camp to lapsing into a diabetic coma in Auschwitz. Throughout these years, Ernest kept a diary of the events, recounting how he narrowly escaped death time and again.

"The story of Ernest Sterzer is an intersection of two worlds I am personally intimate with," relates Howard Steinberg, CEO and Founder of dLife. "I have Type 1 diabetes and my parents survived the horrors of the Holocaust. Sterzer's is one of the most amazing and moving stories in diabetes history. Just imagine the guile and even good fortune it took to survive. The harsh and sad reality is that in spite of all this and his ultimate journey to freedom, in the end it was diabetes that he ultimately could not survive."

dLifeTV's 14th season premiers with this electrifying episode on January 16 at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST on CNBC. For a preview, the Ernest Sterzer story can be viewed here. After the premiere the full episode will be available in the dLife.com viewing room.

About dLife — For Your Diabetes Life

dLife is the number-one community network and resource for people living with diabetes and caregivers, providing information, inspiration and connection via a diverse array of exclusive media channels and services. With over 1.2 million registered members, dLife uniquely engages this growing population in positive and proactive self-care. Its award-winning media outlets include dLife.com, the leading online diabetes destination attracting over one million unique visitors each month and featuring the widest and deepest variety of original content and resources anywhere; dLifeTV, the only TV series dedicated to people with diabetes with almost half a million viewers, airing every Sunday on CNBC (7 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. PT), dLife Mobile applications, and other consumer and professional programs driving proactive diabetes self-management with improved health outcome.  

SOURCE dLife