Prakasam is a man who symbolizes the
invincibility of the human spirit. His life
story reads like a movie, reaching depths and
heights that few have the chance, or the
courage, to face. He has been surrounded and
affected by leprosy all of his life. This has
given his life its unique hue. However, he has
ever let it determine his path. Prakasam is
what all of us want to be--the hero of his own
story.

My name is Prakasam. I was born in the village of Rampakkam, in the
state of Tamil Nadu. My father's name was Adhimoolam Raja and my
mother's was Singarammal. She was second wife to my father. My
Aunty, his first wife, was named Kaliammal. I was my parents' only
son. My mother died when I was 5 years old, and immediately after
that, my father contracted both typhoid and leprosy at the same
time.

Then, when I was a small boy, I too got the sign of leprosy.
Patches appeared on my body. Since we were illiterate, we did not
know much about it. We were ignorant about the early symptoms of
leprosy. But when the people of our community found out about the
disease, my father and I were sent out of the village to seek
medical help. We went to a government leprosy hospital in
Thirukoilur, Tamil Nadu. There, the doctor gave us medicine for our
leprosy, and after three months we were sent to Chengalput Leprosy
Hospital for further treatment. There, we received treatment for
six more months. However, my health still did not improve, and so
my father and I were discharged. After that, I was sent to a
leprosy hospital in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. I remained there for
some time and again was discharged.

As you can see, during that period, I never received continuous
treatment at one hospital. My father moved from hospital to
hospital, when we could see no sign of improvement. Since my
leprosy kept getting worse, my father finally took me to a leprosy
hospital at Tuticorin, in the Southern part of India. There, my we
both received treatment for 10 years.

When our tests were finally declared negative, we returned back to
our village, Rampakkam.