St Patrick's hospital, MILE FOUR, abakaliki
St Patrick’s Hospital at Mile Four, Abakaliki, in partnership with SFLG, plays a vital role in supporting people affected by leprosy who would otherwise be stigmatised and abandoned by the people they love.
Promise aged 37: Motherhood, stigma and long‑term healing
Promise first developed symptoms of leprosy as a teenager. Swelling in her hands and feet forced her to leave school, and her family spent what little they had on hospital stays and treatments. When she was finally diagnosed, she felt a strange mixture of fear and relief.
“I remember feeling uneasy because we didn’t know the problem. Once I was diagnosed, I felt a kind of relief.” Twenty years later, Promise is a mother of three.
Promise arrived at Mile Four, four months ago with a severe ulcer on her right foot, an old wound that had returned many times – and the nurses are caring for her and changing the dressings regularly, doing all they can to help.
Her sister‑in‑law, who brought her to the hospital, died suddenly, shortly after arriving at Mile Four and Promise carries that grief too. She misses her children deeply. She worries about the future. And she still feels the weight of stigma. “There’s a part of me that wishes it never happened. I still feel shame about it.”
Her story is one of endurance, a woman who has lived with leprosy for most of her life, still fighting for healing, dignity and the chance to build something new. Yet she also speaks with the courage that perhaps she does not truly feel. When asked what she would say to someone newly diagnosed, she answers without hesitation: “I’d tell them to get treatment.”
Promise first developed symptoms of leprosy as a teenager. Swelling in her hands and feet forced her to leave school, and her family spent what little they had on hospital stays and treatments. When she was finally diagnosed, she felt a strange mixture of fear and relief.
“I remember feeling uneasy because we didn’t know the problem. Once I was diagnosed, I felt a kind of relief.” Twenty years later, Promise is a mother of three.
Promise arrived at Mile Four, four months ago with a severe ulcer on her right foot, an old wound that had returned many times – and the nurses are caring for her and changing the dressings regularly, doing all they can to help.
Her sister‑in‑law, who brought her to the hospital, died suddenly, shortly after arriving at Mile Four and Promise carries that grief too. She misses her children deeply. She worries about the future. And she still feels the weight of stigma. “There’s a part of me that wishes it never happened. I still feel shame about it.”
Her story is one of endurance, a woman who has lived with leprosy for most of her life, still fighting for healing, dignity and the chance to build something new. Yet she also speaks with the courage that perhaps she does not truly feel. When asked what she would say to someone newly diagnosed, she answers without hesitation: “I’d tell them to get treatment.”
Promise
Chimuanya aged 10: Childhood resilience after loss
Ten‑year‑old Chimuanya lives in the hospital village with his mother, Ebera. His father died in 2020 after losing both legs to diabetes. The family’s dog, Whisky, rarely leaves his side, and his best friend Chikamse lives just a few doors away.
Chimuanya is not affected by leprosy himself, but his life has been shaped by the illness and disability around him. He has grown up in a community where people support one another through hardship, and where children learn early what resilience looks like.
His presence brings warmth to the village, a reminder that even in places marked by illness and loss, childhood continues - friendships, laughter, and the steady companionship of a loyal dog.
His story adds a gentle, hopeful thread to the wider narrative of Mile Four: the next generation watching, learning, and growing in the shadow of their parents’ struggles, yet still finding joy.
Ten‑year‑old Chimuanya lives in the hospital village with his mother, Ebera. His father died in 2020 after losing both legs to diabetes. The family’s dog, Whisky, rarely leaves his side, and his best friend Chikamse lives just a few doors away.
Chimuanya is not affected by leprosy himself, but his life has been shaped by the illness and disability around him. He has grown up in a community where people support one another through hardship, and where children learn early what resilience looks like.
His presence brings warmth to the village, a reminder that even in places marked by illness and loss, childhood continues - friendships, laughter, and the steady companionship of a loyal dog.
His story adds a gentle, hopeful thread to the wider narrative of Mile Four: the next generation watching, learning, and growing in the shadow of their parents’ struggles, yet still finding joy.
Chimuanya with his sister and dog.
Efita aged 51: A father’s struggle and a daughter’s sacrifice
Efita first noticed patches on his skin in 2008. Years of hospital visits followed, from Lagos University Teaching Hospital to local herbalists, before he was finally diagnosed in 2016. He completed a year of MDT, but ulcers on his feet kept returning, forcing him to stop farming and rely on others for help.
This is his fifth admission to Mile Four in recent years. “All this is so painful in my heart. It doesn’t allow me to do anything.”
The impact on his family has been profound. His wife works harder than ever to support their six children. Two of the youngest have left school because the family can no longer afford the fees. His eldest daughter, Debora, also left school to care for him at the hospital.
Debora cooks for her father, sleeps on a spare bed in the ward, and waits for the day he is well enough to return home. Efita’s story shows how leprosy affects not only the person diagnosed, but the entire family, especially children whose futures are put on hold.
When Sister Henrietta, one of the nurses, gently asked Debora how she felt, she began to cry. “I miss school. I want to be a tailor… I want to finish secondary school.”
Efita first noticed patches on his skin in 2008. Years of hospital visits followed, from Lagos University Teaching Hospital to local herbalists, before he was finally diagnosed in 2016. He completed a year of MDT, but ulcers on his feet kept returning, forcing him to stop farming and rely on others for help.
This is his fifth admission to Mile Four in recent years. “All this is so painful in my heart. It doesn’t allow me to do anything.”
The impact on his family has been profound. His wife works harder than ever to support their six children. Two of the youngest have left school because the family can no longer afford the fees. His eldest daughter, Debora, also left school to care for him at the hospital.
Debora cooks for her father, sleeps on a spare bed in the ward, and waits for the day he is well enough to return home. Efita’s story shows how leprosy affects not only the person diagnosed, but the entire family, especially children whose futures are put on hold.
When Sister Henrietta, one of the nurses, gently asked Debora how she felt, she began to cry. “I miss school. I want to be a tailor… I want to finish secondary school.”
Efita and his daughter, Debora
Nicholas Ekechi: The resolve behind Mile Four’s leprosy care
For eleven years, Nicholas Ekechi has been the steady centre of Mile Four Hospital’s leprosy clinic, a role he describes not as a job, but as a calling. Now 35, he serves as the hospital’s focal coordinator for leprosy, diagnosing patients, guiding treatment, and supporting some of the most stigmatised people in his community.
Nicholas’s commitment is rooted in his own childhood. “I had so many sicknesses growing up,” he recalls. “I promised myself that if I became well, I would help people in the same situation to recover.” That promise has shaped more than a decade of service, driven by what he calls joy and satisfaction in seeing patients regain health and dignity. Yet the challenges are stark. The shortage of MDT, the essential drug regimen for leprosy, is a constant worry and persuading patients to complete a full year of treatment is often difficult. “Clement, one of our patients, wouldn’t be here now if he’d completed his regimen the first time,” Nicholas says sadly.
Stigma shadows his work too. Even medical students do not fully understand leprosy - he tells us that one refused to take back a pen after learning where Nicholas worked. Still, Nicholas remains unwavering. His presence at Mile Four is a reminder that progress against leprosy depends not only on medicine, but on people with courage, compassion, and extraordinary persistence.
“There are many doctors and nurses who refuse to work with leprosy patients.”
For eleven years, Nicholas Ekechi has been the steady centre of Mile Four Hospital’s leprosy clinic, a role he describes not as a job, but as a calling. Now 35, he serves as the hospital’s focal coordinator for leprosy, diagnosing patients, guiding treatment, and supporting some of the most stigmatised people in his community.
Nicholas’s commitment is rooted in his own childhood. “I had so many sicknesses growing up,” he recalls. “I promised myself that if I became well, I would help people in the same situation to recover.” That promise has shaped more than a decade of service, driven by what he calls joy and satisfaction in seeing patients regain health and dignity. Yet the challenges are stark. The shortage of MDT, the essential drug regimen for leprosy, is a constant worry and persuading patients to complete a full year of treatment is often difficult. “Clement, one of our patients, wouldn’t be here now if he’d completed his regimen the first time,” Nicholas says sadly.
Stigma shadows his work too. Even medical students do not fully understand leprosy - he tells us that one refused to take back a pen after learning where Nicholas worked. Still, Nicholas remains unwavering. His presence at Mile Four is a reminder that progress against leprosy depends not only on medicine, but on people with courage, compassion, and extraordinary persistence.
“There are many doctors and nurses who refuse to work with leprosy patients.”
Nicholas Eketchi
