Akshaya Jayachandran, NephJC intern was inspired by John Green’s Everything is Tuberculosis to write the following poem.

My Tryst with TB

I was 25, just starting my MD,
Wearing the pride of a physician-to-be.
But before the joy could sink in deep,
A strange shadow woke me from sleep.

My weight slipped away, strength grew thin,
A hollow ache echoed within.
“Just homesickness,” my loved ones guessed,
“Stay with your peers, give work your best.”

I pushed through the aches, day and night,
Right until my body gave up the fight.
Had an X-ray, scans, and endless tests,
A tiny node revealed the rest.

Fine-needle truth, sharp and unkind—
Tuberculosis, lounging right there to find.
The ATT* began and the months grew long,
Food lost its taste, my laughter was gone.

When my liver burned, the regimen changed,
Life felt broken, and forcefully rearranged.
And yet I healed—with care and trust,
Medicines given, as they must.

But what of those the world forgets?
The mothers whose lips with fever sweat,
Who cough in hunger, thin and frail,
With no support when their bodies fail.

The child who coughs blood into his hand,
Hungry, weak, in a comfort-less land.
No food to soften the bitter pill,
No bed to rest, no doctor’s skill?

For them, TB is more than a disease—
It’s a thief of their hope, their bread, their ease.
If I, with comfort, barely survived,
What of the millions fighting deprived?

Their suffering speaks, their silence cries,
Of health’s great inequities, plain to our eyes.
And in their struggle, one truth rings clear—
Justice in care is the cure we must steer.

*Anti-Tubercular Therapy