Patient stories

An artist. A former dietician. A doctor. A hotel manager.

What do all of these people have in common?

They are all survivors of tuberculosis (TB), working to educate others by telling their stories.
We are proud to share these stories below.

Paulina

Paulina is an artist from Moscow, who is working with themes like ‘stigma’ and ‘discrimination’. Since she survived tuberculosis in 2015 she has been combining art with activism to break down society’s barriers around stigmatised people. Her work can be found in private collections in Russia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Great Britain, France and Columbia. Paulina is also a founder and member of TBPeople – Global network of people with experience of tuberculosis.

Kelly

Kelly is a physician and has treated patients with TB. Being a TB patient, however, was new territory for him. One of the most difficult parts of the process was the impact on his family, friends and patients, who were forced to endure months of treatment due to their contact with him. He now brings a new understanding to his practice and works tirelessly to educate others, especially those in the healthcare community.

Ingrid

Ingrid developed drug-resistant TB whilst working as a dietician in a public hospital in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The TB treatment side effects caused liver failure and she was in coma. TB changed her life and today she is a passionate TB advocate. Ingrid is the Operational Manager at TB Proof, a diverse TB advocacy organisation that provides platforms where TB affected communities can contribute to improving TB prevention and quality of care.

HEAR INGRID’S STORY

Kahyr

Khayr is a North Dakota resident and a successful hotel manager. He spent time living in Somalia as a college student, where he likely contracted multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB. Khayr was told that his chance of survival was 50%. After a long battle, he recovered and now works with We are TB, the survivor advocacy organization.