Shunned psoriasis sufferer warmed by rays of hope
A masseuse already abandoned by her husband because of the psoriasis patches all over her body, suffered a second blow when her employer suspended her after customers became concerned she had Aids.
Actor Bhin Bunluerit, who promotes volunteering on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Bhin.fanclub), this week posted about the ordeal that 27-year-old Arunsri (last name withheld) has endured.
Bhin said Arunsri’s psoriasis, which has recurred on and off over the past decade, had flared up after she became pregnant with her second child.
It became so unsightly that she was suspended from work because customers misunderstood her condition for Aids and refused her service.
“My husband left me because he found my illness unacceptable,” a tearful Arunsri said on a TV broadcast. “I want to get better and be cured so I can get back to work. I have to take care of my two children and my mother, who takes care of them in Udon Thani.”
Arunsri is the sole breadwinner for her mother and children, ages 12 years and nine months.
Unemployed for five months, she’s staying with a sympathetic friend in Bangkok while taking medicine for her psoriasis.
Bhin interviewed Arunsri for an episode of the TV-radio show “Hope: Prakaisaeng Haeng Kwamwang” (The Light of Hope) hosted by the Government Lottery Office and aired on Royal Thai Army Radio and Channel 5.
The sponsors gave her Bt10,000, a bag of essentials and two buckets of uncooked rice. Bhin added another Bt15,000 from his own pocket and posted her bank account number online in the hope that more people will make donations.