Iin Masitoh, coping with the pain of leprosy
Iin Masitoh, coping with the pain of leprosy
TANGERANG (JP): Leprosy can destroy the future of sufferers,
ending all their dreams. Love can become a nightmare. The joy of
marriage, built up over many years, can easily fall apart.
"I never dreamed of being separated from my husband and three
lovely children," Iin Masitoh, 42, told The Jakarta Post during a
recent interview at the Sitanala Leprosy Hospital.
The infectious disease, Iin said, attacked her sometime in
1986 while living with her three children in Banjar, Central
Java. Her husband, an Army corporal, had been posted to the new
town.
"I had no idea why a number of white lesions grew on my face
so suddenly," she said.
Iin's husband took her to various doctors and traditional
healers, including the Hasan Sadikin hospital in the East Java
capital of Bandung.
She said the boils grew much faster than she expected.
"The lesions then moved to the lower part of my hands," Iin
recalled.
The disease became more serious in 1991. The boils seeped
endlessly and new lesions grew nearby, she said.
"My face was almost spoiled and my hands were full of holes. I
could not stand it."
After six years struggling against leprosy, Iin decided to ask
her husband to send her to the Sitanala Leprosarium in Tangerang
to get cheap, but intensive treatment.
"We've spent so much money only to see more and more new
lesions, boils and holes grow on my face and hands," she said.
She was afraid the disease would spread to her entire family.
"Since then, I have never stopped praying to the Almighty
Allah, asking Him to bless my husband and my three children", she
said. "Hoping that the God will help them to get away from this
ugly disease."
Iin is the second of four children. During her childhood, the
family lived in the chilly mountain village of Cianjur in West
Java.
"My parents and all of their children were healthy and none of
us, except me, have been attacked by leprosy," she said.
Iin's husband would visit her in hospital during his holidays,
giving her some money for living and medical expenses.
"It is a beautiful memory; him visiting me with some of my
favorite traditional food and fruit in his hands," Iin said.
At that time, I thought he was the most patient husband on the
planet, she said.
Reality
The wonder turned to pain three years later.
"One day in 1994 he told me he wanted to marry another woman
to accompany him in bed for the rest of his life," Iin said,
trying hard to avoid crying.
"I tried to think quickly to hide my surprise because I could
not lie to myself that this ugly disabled woman still loved him,"
she said.
"Thank God, I realized that I'm no longer an appropriate wife
for him. I told him instantly that I allowed him to marry the
woman," Iin said, this time laughing.
She even went to the wedding ceremony.
"I have no hard feelings. I believe this is the fate God has
given me," she said.
Iin's three children now live with their father and stepmother
in Bandung.
Last year, Iin was told by the Sitanala medical staff that she
had recovered and it was time to say goodbye to her friends at
the hospital.
She then left the hospital, only to face an unfriendly world.
She refused to elaborate on what happened to her.
"I decided to come back to Sitanala a few weeks later, telling
the doctors that I felt something burning at my face and hands,"
she said.
Iin is now under medical supervision, safe inside the hospital
she considers her second home.
She teaches other Moslem leprosy patients to read the Koran
and recite Islamic prayers.
"I'm so happy to be here and hope that the doctors won't kick
me out," she said.
When asked about her future, she laughed.
"I wonder if there is still a man on this earth willing to
marry a poor woman like me?"