*Disclaimer: I AM OKAY.
About a week after we arrived in Ghana, I was indeed diagnosed with malaria. Thankfully, my case was not considered to be complicated/severe. Here in West Africa, having malaria is on the same level as a severe flu. I know what you’re thinking: Did she take her malaria prophylaxis (anti-malarial pills) everyday? Yes. Did she really sleep under a mosquito net? Every night. Did she wear bug spray? Literally ALL the deet, all the time.
Alas, I still got malaria. However, I was very thankful to be in Ghana by the time I started showing symptoms. I was blessed with access to air conditioning, electricity (sometimes), and local medical centers that spoke fluent English. (Also, I only had to pay $7 to get a full blood workup. Take notes, America.)
Our month in Ghana was our “all-squad month.” This means that our whole squad of thirty stayed together for the entire month. Going into month two, I couldn’t wait to spend time with all of them and hear about their adventures from month one. Unfortunately, I spent the majority of our time in Ghana in bed. I read a lot of Harry Potter…and spent hours doing research in order to prepare semi-mediocre March Madness brackets.
I won’t lie to you, though. Having malaria was incredibly frustrating. One of the most challenging aspects was that the medication often made me feel worse than the actual malaria did..My squad mentor happened to be in Ghana with us, and had experienced malaria the year prior. She described the malaria meds to me as “dropping a nuke on your liver.” Yikes. Since our squad is a pretty active bunch, I had been so pumped to work out with all of them during our month together. I was ready and excited to go running, and my body basically laughed at me. I often struggled to rationally process the moments where my brain wanted to sprint, but my body refused to even walk. It honestly took almost three weeks for me to walk up a staircase pain-free.
I didn’t walk away from malaria without learning a great deal, though. For one, I left the US with an irrational fear of becoming ill overseas and needing to utilize international medicine. If you know me, you know that I do not appreciate surprises and that I cannot stand to feel unprepared. Therefore, I tried my absolute best to equip myself with every medication/treatment/supplement that I could ever possibly need on the field. No lie, I had an entire large packing cube dedicated to just meds/medical supplies. All of that…and I still got malaria within six weeks of leaving the United States. The reality is that a number of other countries are more equipped to treat malaria than America is. This is simply due to the fact that many American clinicians have not had as much exposure to patients with malaria as clinicians overseas (where malaria is clearly more prevalent).
To all future racers (or terrified parents of future racers), the truth is that you may very likely get sick while you are on the field. The truth is that you may have to seek out medical treatment in a foreign country. But, the absolute truth is that the people around you will take great care of you. They will do all in their power to ensure your health and safety. My squad and leadership team took incredible care of me, and I know your squad will rally around you just as mine did. Bottom line: YOU’RE GOING TO BE FINE!
Also, don’t be an idiot and ignore your anti-malarial medication. They won’t prevent you from getting malaria, but they make your treatment/recovery much easier.
With love from Ghana,
Alexis
