Real Life Stories
ukShaun
I was inspired to contact Malaria No More UK after hearing Jo Yirrell on the radio one morning explaining how she lost her son, Harry, to malaria.
Unlike Harry, who gave away his anti-malarial pills in Ghana, I travelled a lot for business and after years of being in and out of malarial areas, I stupidly thought that it would never ever affect me. I learnt the hard way that this was not true. I contracted a deadly strain of malaria and spent a week fighting to survive on a life-support machine followed by six weeks in intensive care. I am one of the very fortunate ones as malaria kills nearly a million people each year, the majority being young children in Africa. In 2009 The Daily Mail covered my story too.
I believe that contributing to Malaria No More UK has a direct and immediate impact to save the lives of thousands of children
When I recovered, I was determined to understand more about the disease that nearly killed me. The more I learned, the more despondent I became in the knowledge that so many children in Africa die from this disease. But I also learnt that it is totally preventable and this is why I have chosen to support Malaria No More UK.
There are many worthwhile charities that vie for our support, but I believe that contributing to Malaria No More UK has a direct and immediate impact to save the lives of thousands of children as well to contribute to the prosperity of those nations that are ravaged by the devastating effects of malaria.
I am generally a casual jogger so in 2009 I decided to up the pace and run my first marathon in Snowdonia (one of the toughest in the UK!). It took place in October and I was sure that I would never be fully fit enough or totally prepared for the long uphill stretch. I was always determined to finish though, come what may, pushed on by the thought that every mile I completed contributes to saving lives.
I finished it in a respectable 4 hours 40 minutes and had a few aches and pains the next day but nothing serious. The the hills were gruesome and the weather was atrocious, but it all added to the experience and I will certainly do it again!
I also reached my target of raising £500 helping to protect 200 people from malaria. £5 is enough to buy, deliver and hang a bed net which can help to protect a mother and her child from malaria.
More real life stories
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Dinah Hawes
Dinah decided to join the fight against malaria when she saw a Comic Relief programme on TV about the devastating effects of malaria throughout Africa. She was struck by the fact that just £5 is enough to buy, deliver and hang a mosquito net to protect a mother and child from malaria for up to five years.
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Gwynedd 'All Star Brass' concert
On 14 August 2010, Linda Williams and her brother Aled held a concert in memory of former Abergynolwyn Silver band member and friend, Barry Wragg.
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Jo Yirrell
Nothing can ever change my feelings of grief after losing Harry but I know that he would want me to dedicate myself to saving others from malaria.
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Musa Sanyang
I came from a very poor background from a village in the Gambia. My parents were subsistence farmers, my father planted ground nut during the raining season and my mum, who died about 9 years ago after a complication with malaria, used to work on the rice field during the same period; my family had no other source of income.
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Gracie Connett
When I came downstairs late one night my Mum and Dad were watching Comic Relief on telly. I saw that there were babies with malaria. The babies were just lying there with no mosquito nets.
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Rose
Rose is a small-hold farmer in Dromankuma, Ashanti Region, Ghana. She is also a mother of four and grandmother to three and counting! Everyone in Rose’s family received mosquito nets as a result of a campaign supported by Malaria No More UK in 2011. Just months later, in Spring 2012 Rose shared the palpable, positive changes she and her family are experiencing now they sleep under mosquito nets.
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Doreen Tetteh
New Mum Doreen and her husband live with their six month old baby boy, John, in Ghana, a country where 100% of the population are at risk from malaria.
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Bonafactious and Valencia Oroses
Parents Bonafactious and Valencia live with their family in rural Namibia. Their home is in an isolated part of the country meaning they are officially some of the ‘hardest to reach’ communities with little access to malaria prevention and treatment support.
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Mamas Otsieditse and Amos
If you are a volunteer health worker in Botswana, you’re also a life saver. ‘Mamas’ Otsieditse and Amos volunteer in their local community to raise vital awareness about the life threatening dangers of malaria and how to prevent it.
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Helvi Kashuku, Field Worker
Helvi is an experienced 34 year old field worker with the Malaria No More UK supported malaria prevention programme in northern Namibia. She is motivated by her own personal experience of malaria, having seen her 12 year old brother suffer from the disease and spend time in hospital
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Adrian Siebo – Enrolled Nurse, Lisikili Clinic, Namibia
Adrian, 24, is currently the only nurse at Lisikili Primary Health Clinic in Kabbe Constituency, Caprivim. There should be two nurses at the clinic but one of the posts is vacant. Annemarie Meyer, our Programme and Policy Manager, met Adrian at his clean, neat clinic in October 2011, after he had finished with the 40 or so patients he had seen that day
