Monday 17 October 2011

Every 4 Minutes - the e-book

My interest in leprosy started decades ago when I was sailing from Liverpool to Quebec.  We hit the end of a hurricane and the crossing was appallingly rough.  Unlike the vast majority of the passengers I wasn't ill - just terrified!  To try and pass the endless days I curled up miserably in the corner and read anything I could lay my hands on!  One of the little books the steward threw me from the locked cupboard was 'Who Walk Alone' by Perry Burgess.  Although written in the style of a novel, it was actually the true story of an American who Perry had met in his role as President of the American Leprosy Foundation.  'Ned Langton' as Perry called him, had served in the military in the Philippines, and after returning home, was diagnosed with leprosy and he spent the next 25 years confined to a leper colony there.

I became very aware of the awfulness of having hands that failed to respond properly when at 36, a single mother of 3 children, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and all of me, including my hands were affected.  Not being able to lift the roast from the oven, drain the potatoes, open the ironing board or turn the taps on over the bath, was a nightmare.  But I recovered, unlike the poor soul in this picture.

Charities like Lepra can offer remedial surgery and physiotherapy which give a degree of improvement and thankfully leprosy is now curable with multi-drug therapy.  However the numbers affected are staggering and the cost of finding and treating them immense. Lepra, the excellent charity that works in this field, has been as hard hit by the recession as every other charity.

Consequently my small contribution was to try and get 'Who Walk Alone' republished but this proved impossible, so I've ended up writing my own novel.  In it Clifford Harrison travels to India, falls in love with a beautiful dusky maiden, but as she's part of an arranged marriage, heartbroken he returns to England.  Two years later he discovers a strange white patch on the top of his foot, which is eventually diagnosed as leprosy.  His immediate reaction is that this must be a mistake - after all he's white, British, educated, not like the poor beggars he's seen dragging themselves along the roadside.

But the diagnosis is true, and so he returns to India.  The story tells of his life, his successes, his loves, his heartbreak and his joy. 
Why the title.  Because in 2011 Every four minutes, a person is diagnosed with leprosy
You can download the e-book of this engrossing story by clicking here  

Please do - and pass on this blog too!

Many thanks!

1 comment: