Grandmother covered in tumours says ‘I cannot take this pain anymore’

A grandmother covered in hundreds of
tumours says she is living a tormented life,
shunned by fellow villagers who call her
the ‘potato woman’.


Hosineara Begum was born with a pimple
on her upper lip, and a few small bumps.
But she says that
after a botched
operation to cut it off,
more pimples spread
all over her body –
some growing to the
size of tennis balls.
Now her face is
completely masked behind the painful
tumours making her an outcast in her
home village in Bangladesh.
She cannot talk, eat or wear clothes
properly.
Hosineara said: ‘I think the only way I can
be freed from this pain is by death.

‘The tumours hurt. These hurt badly. I
scratch all day and sometimes even blood
comes out. I cannot take this pain
anymore.
‘No one talks to me or meets me. People
even turn around if they see me from a
distance. Children are scared of me. Even
my grandson who is only three sometimes
cries when he sees me. I live like an
outcast.’
Walking is also a
daily struggle with
the weight of endless
tumours covering her
head, arms, fingers,
abdomen, back,
thighs to toes.
But it was not always
this way for
Hosineara.
The woman, from the Narayanganj district,
said that when she was married at 16, she
only had a few small bumps on her face
and neck.

But as her condition started to worsen, her
husband Arzu Mian drifted into depression
and died.
She ran from one
local healthcare to
another in and around
her village but no one
could diagnose her
condition.
With no treatment for
several years and no
home remedies
helping her heal, Hosineara eventually
resorted to Homeopathy and while she
says, the medicines helped a little, she
could not continue the treatment because
of lack of money.
‘I have no hopes left. I have lived a
tormented life. Now I want to be free from
this pain and Only God can help me,’ she
said.