Imperial Valley press., 1920-10-04
by Assoc:ated Press)


HONOLULU, Oct. 4.-Twenty-fve
years q leper, but now discharged by
the physician Of the United States
public health service in charge of the
kalihi Leprosy Investigation station
Fere without an apparent trace of the
disease IN her body, is the record OF
Mrs. Rosalie Blaidseu, of Honolulu,
given to the Associated Press in what
IS believed to be the first interview
e its kind ever published.
Refined chaulmoogra oil, prepared
~ DR.. !. 1. Dean and his confreres
Of the University of Hawaii, and ad-
min.sterad by DR.. J. T. Mcdonald, dj-
rector OF the investigation station, d..
F. Z. Trotter, president of the ter-
~itorial board of health and their as
s0ctates IS credited by the public
health officials with having arrested
the disease in three years, five nonth2
+ and seven days of treatment.
To-day Mrs. Blais1eli IS living at
her home here, going in and cut
famong her friends and taking up the
threads Of busy life which were cut
when the malady forced her without
+ the camp.
+ Her manner is cheerful, almost Vi
vacious; her mental energy unusual
lv keen; her movements quick and
decisive as those Of a person in per-
feet health; and the skin cf her hard
as the Associated Press representa-
tive took it in parting, is soft and
smooth as q baby's.
I Only one apparent i'll effect CT the
disease remains in the occasional
tw.tchirg Of ore eye. There the lep-
rosy bacilli destroyed nerve before
the treatment took effect.
lIrs. Blaisdell is . full-blodded Ha-
waiian, last Of long line of priest
esses Of the flame in the. old Hawai-
h ian temple worship. Before she en-
tered the Kalihi institution for treat
lment she organized the Daughters
and Sons Of Hawaiian Warriors, one
Of the strongest of the Hawaiian so
cieties in the islands. She speaks
English fluently, also Hawaiian anC
her information on world affairs Is
fa' above the average.
NV grandmother told me to OBJ
serve our old 'tabus' (rules Of con
due, or | would be stricken witt
leorosy." said this daughter of a race
that believed in a Divine Trinity
f2.OCO years ago and taught the power
If mind over matter centuries before
the Christian era. II did not heec
her warning and in 1895 q red, burn.
ing spot on my right cheek an.
rounced that my punishment hac
come. II reappeared off and on but
not in aggravated form until 1908.
"From then on | became worse
/ i.Eruptions,' as we call them, appeared
every three months. My face and
other parts Of my body and limbs be-
Icame swollen and inflamed during
these periods.
! IN March, 1917, ] was sent to the
/ Kalihi hospital. From that time
until was released the other day
took different kinds of treatment
leach marking q step Of progress in
1.-THE manner Of refining and admins
Itering the curative esseice of chaul-
tmoorgra oil.
During the earlier stages Of the
work at KaHhi chaulmoogra oil was
Ihard to take" Mrs. Blaisdell cor.in-
.ued, describing the remedy. eat pre-
sent an injection is administered once
a week, while the remedy i taken III
tcrnally three Times a week.
Sometimes, in about 10 percent OF
the cases, the oil, brought on lcp-
ROSY fever, accompanied by erupt-
ions, and the doctors instructed US
not TO take the capsules until these
had passed. This was hard TO 10 for
vp felt that we were losing tiMc ard
some Ct Us disobeycA. ] did 80, once,
and continued taking the capgul3s