Stories

Amita

It started in 2020 when I was in the second year of my nursing degree. I was an active girl and things were going smooth. Then, during the COVID surge, I started getting a mild fever. As a nursing student, I treated it myself.

Jason

When I woke up one night in November with a severe headache, I thought nothing much of it. I took paracetamol. My wife later mentioned to a nurse that I was acting and walking strangely. The nurse asked me some basic questions then suddenly said she was referring me to hospital straight away – I was having a stroke!

Laura

Remember, remember the 5th of November…. I’ll never forget the date I was told I was suspected of having tuberculosis. To the noise of fireworks exploding in the damp, dark dusk I walked home from hospital in a state of bewilderment and shock.

Samara

Telling your children you have TB can be a very difficult moment. They’re likely to be worried for you and you have to explain that they may have to undergo screening to ensure they do not have TB themselves. Luckily for Samara, who works at a supported accommodation project for homeless people, telling 12-year-old daughter Nevaeh about her illness was not as bad as she thought.

Tom

When Tom was admitted to hospital with an excess of fluid around the lungs, and inflammation around the heart nobody knew quite what was wrong. Tom’s condition worsened, he dropped more than two stone in two weeks, was unable to get out of bed and did not want to eat. He also felt cold and shivery, despite sweating constantly.

Amy

As a young law student, Amy’s attention was on studies not TB. She thought the BCG vaccine she’d had as a child would protect her from what she considered a ‘disease of the past’. Not knowing the symptoms of TB, she was never on the look out for it when she got ill.

Natalie

Natalie, a young mum with two young children, was relieved when she was told she had renal (kidney) TB, because she finally knew what was wrong with her and that it could be cured.

Imla

As a fitness trainer, and having an interest in alternative therapies, Imla was probably more focused on the mind and body than most people. But that all changed in 2005, when in just eight months he went from cycling 20 miles a day to walking with a stick. Looking back he says the mental challenge of his illness was equally exhausting.

Arthensia

Manisha

Manisha would like to share her story, as the day she was diagnosed she had read the stories on this website, which gave her the confidence that she could fight through this. In 2013 at the age of 24 Manisha was diagnosed with TB, which was a shock as she’s an active person with a healthy lifestyle. It began with just a cough that became constant over time.

Allen

Whilst Assistant Head Steward at a golf club, Allen began suffering from a sore throat and a mild chest infection. He thought it was just a case of ‘man flu’. Working in the Club House on a golf course, Allen was used to catching colds from customers. However, it wasn’t until his symptoms remained and intensified that he felt he was experiencing more than just ‘man flu’.

Louise

Despite giving up smoking and a course of antibiotics, Louise’s chest infection did not clear. She went to her GP many times with an ongoing cough, weight loss, sweats and a general feeling of tiredness – classic symptoms of TB. Yet it took a visit to A&E, after coughing up blood, before Louise was diagnosed with infectious TB.

Gemma

Gemma first became ill at the beginning of 2009 at the age of 23. “My first symptom was weight loss – at first I didn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t till I had lost a stone that I went to the doctor. By this point I was feeling like it was somewhat out of control and I didn’t like it. I also suffered from terrible night sweats.