The Patient's Voice; Experiences of Illness Book

Great memoir. Henry Nalaielua lived on a sugar plantation on the Big Island until he was 10. Diagnosed with leprosy (now it is preferred to refer to the disease as 'Hansens disease), he was taken from his family and sent to Kalihi Hospital in Oahu; his parents did not tell him why he had to leave them but instead his mother told him that he was going on an adventure. From the hospital, he was sent as a teenager to Kalaupapa on Moloka'i, a quarantined "leper colony." Eventually, with the discovery of sulfa drugs, Nalaielua was able to be paroled but suffered from the disease throughout his life. He lived off and on by choice in Kalaupapa throughout his life. Through all of his suffering, which I won't go through, he still managed to love and live a full life not without its sorrows but nonetheless full of joy. He always stood by his brothers and sisters with Hansens Disease and for decades fought to make their lives better both at Kalaupapa and elsewhere. He lead an interesting life and in spite of his initial forcible detention on Kalaupapa, it became his spiritual home.

There are few autobiographies of those who resided in Kalaupapa. Kalaupapa is now a national park. If you are interested in what life was like for a resident of Hawaii's only leper colony, don't pass this book up.