Linda de caestecker biography examples

I was a young medical student when I saw the devastating effects of leprosy up close. In , I was studying at the University of Glasgow, and while walking through the city centre a plaque on a doorway caught my eye. It was for the office of The Leprosy Mission Scotland.

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Intrigued, I just walked in off the street and asked whether the charity ever needed trainee doctors to volunteer abroad — they did and, after learning more about their work, I was soon packing my bags to travel halfway around the world. It was the most wonderful experience, but it was very hard. Not only had I never been to a country like that before, but I was also young and had never before seen such shocking disabilities like those that come from leprosy.

Leprosy is a bacterial infection largely associated with poverty. It causes nerve damage and when left untreated it can lead to a loss of feeling or mobility in the hands, feet and around the eyes, which in turn can cause burns, blisters and other minor injuries to go unnoticed. These injuries often turn into permanent disfigurement and disability, and damage to the eyes can leave sufferers blind.

While it is an infectious disease, it is not infectious like coughs or flu, and you need to be with somebody for a prolonged period of time to catch it from them. But seeing people lose their facial features, have their limbs amputated and go blind from the disease really made people scared. That first visit to India really opened by eyes.