Real Life Stories
ukPaddy
Paddy Hanley caught malaria while he was volunteering in Ghana but didn’t fall ill with the disease until after he had returned home.
I can only reiterate to people who go travelling to keep on your medication for the duration of your stay and to keep taking it afterwards
Paddy is a 21-year-old media student at Staffordshire University who hopes one day to get a job in broadcasting. Before embarking on his student life Paddy decided to get some life experience and in January 2008, set off to Ghana, West Africa, to spend six months teaching disadvantaged children. Paddy lived and worked at state run orphanage, Osu Children’s Home in Accra where he taught young children basic English and played football with young boys. For the next five months Paddy lived and breathed Osu Children’s Home, he said; “I went to Ghana armed with some English and a few random football skills and came back enriched by the children, their spirit and culture.”
On Wednesday 2 June 2010, two days after returning home, and at the end of a long hard 12-hour shift in a bar Paddy started to feel feverish. He lost his appetite completely and tiredness overcame him. Paddy ignored his symptoms at first and even stopped taking his malaria tablets after his initial blood test, which came back negative. After two weeks his symptoms did not subside and his parents insisted on taking him to see a doctor. They visited the local NHS Walk-In Clinic, who took one look at him and sent him straight to hospital. Following extensive tests, Paddy was not only diagnosed with a bad stomach infection, but he had also contracted malaria. His blood pressure was dangerously low and so he was put on a drip and hospitalised for five days. Paddy was off work for five weeks and lost two stone. He Says: “I can only reiterate to people who go travelling to keep on your medication for the duration of your stay and to keep taking it afterwards.”
Paddy had contracted malaria despite having taken anti-malaria tablets throughout his time in Ghana but he failed to complete his course. During the first part of his stay, he slept in a house that had mosquito nets on the doors and windows and then slept under a mosquito net during the last leg of his trip, while traveling around Ghana before heading home.
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