Mary Seacole; successfully treats cholera

I finally returned to Jamaica in eighteen twenty five where upon my return I nursed my old patroness through an illness only returning to my family at Blundell Hall after she had passed away. I worked along side my mother for a while and was occasionally called to assist at the army hospital at Up Park Camp. It was my half-brother Edward who took me to Panama. Edward had followed in the family business by opening a hotel for American travellers and it was in eighteen fifty-one when I travelled to Cruces to see him, just in time for a terrible outbreak of cholera. I was literally on hand to nurse the first victim who managed to survive the illness after I had treated him with a variety of remedies including mustard rubs and poultices. Once people heard of my success, a succession of cholera victims were brought to me for treatment as the infection began to spread. I treated the poor for free but the rich had to pay for their treatment.