A work trip to Nigeria changed the life of Stephenie Rodriguez (Sydney, 55 years old). In September 2019, this Australian entrepreneur traveled to the African country to give talks about an app that her company had just launched, Wonder Safe, focused on providing security for women and vulnerable people. Her plan was simple: From the hotel to the Uber and from the Uber to the conference room. But, as she believes, during a brief exit from the hotel to speak with some journalists, a mosquito bit her left ankle three times. There was no turning back. Two weeks later the symptoms manifested and she was diagnosed with cerebral malaria.
Malaria is one of the so-called neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), it is potentially fatal and is contracted by the bite of a mosquito infected with a parasite. Plasmodium, common in tropical regions of Africa, but also in Asia and Latin America. latest report A report on the disease published by the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that in 2022 there were 249 million cases worldwide, 16 million more than the 233 million recorded in 2019, before the Covid pandemic. Malaria kills 600,000 people each year, mostly African children under five years of age.
The mosquito doesn’t care what color you are, it bites and kills the same
Stephenie Rodriguez, malaria survivor
Rodriguez had a seizure while flying from Sydney, Australia, to Boston, USA, just 15 days after his stay in Nigeria. “They took me to the hospital by ambulance and in the ICU they diagnosed me with cerebral malaria,” he recalls in a video interview from his home in Sydney. It was not his first time in Africa, he had been to Kenya before and for that trip he did take an anti-malarial treatment, but on this occasion he decided to do without it. Malarone is the drug recommended by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (CIMA) which prevents and treats malaria by eliminating the parasite that causes it, although it can have adverse effects such as fever, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, among others. Rodriguez felt “dizzy and hallucinated.” “I was going to give a conference, I couldn’t allow myself to get sick. I didn’t go out for a walk, I didn’t go to the pool, I was only outside for a moment to meet with the journalists. A moment that was sufficient and decisive,” laments the Australian.
After the seizure, Rodriguez spent two weeks in a coma. When she woke up, she was completely paralyzed. It took her 55 days to recover and be able to stop dialysis — a treatment that takes over the kidneys’ functions when they can’t — and catch a plane back home. “I got infected on September 11, woke up from the coma on October 11, and didn’t return to Australia until November 5,” she says, recalling those days that seemed eternal to her. Even so, she insists that she is lucky because she was able to be treated at Harvard University Hospital. “Surely anywhere else I wouldn’t have received the same level of care to diagnose malaria in time and give me the cure that would save my life,” Rodriguez adds.
A constant pain
Although her life was no longer in danger, after coming out of the coma her toes began to turn black. “My heels were also turning dark, as were the tips of my hands. Those areas were paralyzed because my body had atrophied during the coma and the medications they gave me to treat septic shock ended up damaging them completely,” explains Rodriguez. Three months after returning to Australia, in February 2020, she underwent the first amputations on her feet and heels. Finally, on March 31, 2021, and after more than 47 operations, both of her legs were amputated below the knee. “That was never going to heal or regenerate, and it was the only way out of the constant pain,” she says.
As a malaria survivor, Rodriguez set himself the challenge of raising awareness about the disease, with the goal of creating impact and awareness about it in one billion people by 2025, an action he carries out in collaboration with The Global Fund, an international organization whose objective is to accelerate the end of the AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria epidemics. “I have had a very hard time, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but overcoming malaria and always looking for the positive side has allowed me to look at ways to create a new life in this adapted body,” he says.
Two years ago she started fencing. “I had to keep myself active. I used to dance salsa, ski, ride a bike…” The businesswoman found in this combat sport a way to stay busy, fit and, ultimately, alive. She currently trains at a high level and participates in competitions for people with disabilities: she even spent 14 months preparing to qualify for the Paralympic Games, although she did not succeed. “Through this experience I have managed to feel a sense of belonging and a sense of belonging. deep respect for people living with disabilities. If it hadn’t been for that, I would never have been able to understand it,” Rodriguez admits.
One way or another, she has been able to move on with her life, but she warns that “malaria continues to kill.” “The mosquito doesn’t care what color you are, it bites and kills just the same,” Rodriguez warns. Malaria is very dependent on the climate. Mosquitoes of the genus Anopheleswhich transmit malaria, benefit from extreme heat temperatures. According to the WHOover the past half century the world has warmed by approximately 0.75 ºC and over the past 25 years the process has accelerated, reaching 0.18 ºC per decade. The African continent concentrates 94% of the world’s malaria cases and 95% of deaths. Every minutea child under five years old dies from this cause in Africa.
“We are not paying enough attention to them. The pathogen is mutating and more resources are needed to help eradicate malaria. I firmly believe that it can be exterminated with tools, resources and a vaccine,” says Rodriguez, who calls for international unity to obtain more money for research. The Global Fund estimates that there is a gap of 3.8 billion dollars (about 3.4 billion euros) between what there is and what is needed in terms of funding to try to eradicate malaria.
Most of Rodriguez’s family is Puerto Rican and the rest live in the United States. “It’s been difficult to get through the whole process away from them,” she confesses. Even so, she is happy and proud to have always had her son by her side. The Australian is a single mother and when she contracted malaria, “her little one,” who is now 18, was a 13-year-old teenager. “At that time I didn’t see myself capable of being a mother,” she admits. But she celebrates how her son gave her the strength and support she needed in her long, painful and slow recovery. She will never forget his words when she woke up from the coma. “I was just crying, and my son told me that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you do with it.” Five years later, that continues to be the fencer’s motto and thanks to it, she reiterates, she is able to get up every day.
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