Leora stretched out her arms towards the light. She thought the white spots would have disappeared by now—and it worried her. But Parthiv, Leora’s husband, brushed off his wife’s fears; he assumed they were probably nothing. But when the spots grew numb and oozed puss, a fearsome word haunted Leora’s mind: leprosy.
Leprosy: The Thief of Normal Life
When leprosy took over Leora’s body, Parthiv started to notice. He saw how his wife suffered as the leprous bacteria ate away at her nerves. Leora’s wounds began to smell, and life became miserable for her. In her greatest moment of need, Parthiv left her without a warning or a trace. All in one moment, leprosy stole Leora’s security and demolished the heart of her husband.
The Plight of Leprosy
After her husband abandoned her, Leora’s neighbor took her to a nearby leprosy hospital. Though Leora was just one of the 200,000 people who were diagnosed with leprosy around the world, she was one of the blessed few who received treatment. Sadly, because her condition was not caught or treated earlier, she had to be in the hospital for more than two months. Even after receiving medication and having her wounds cleaned, leprosy still lived inside her body. Though it lay dormant, it had destroyed her marriage and ate away her limbs. But worse than the disease itself, Leora endured the stigma associated with being branded by leprosy.
More than 200,000 people worldwide are afflicted with leprosy, mostly in Brazil, India and Indonesia
Many believe you can easily catch leprosy by simply touching those who have the disease. Because of this fear, infected people are separated from society. Family members may even force them out of the home, leaving their own relatives to fend for themselves in a world that already looks on them with disgust. For centuries, Leprosy has stolen people’s dignity and future. Leaora’s life was no different.
But there was one thing leprosy could not steal from her.
