A woman who was her father’s carer when she was 12 and lived in a shelter for the homeless while in secondary school, as her family was in £110,000 debt, is now a consultant specialising in forensic psychiatry – but her father never got to see her “achieve her dream” as he died before she landed the role. Donna Arya, 38 lived in a hostel for around 18 months and was not “allowed to tell anyone at school”.
She realised she had to “get out of this situation”, so became more motivated at school, and got into medical school at Queen Mary University of London in 2004. Donna’s family were “worried about how (they) would survive” without her working, so as a first year student she had three jobs to help fund her degree and support her family. After she graduated, her father, Suryakumar, lost both of his legs to a flesh-eating disease, and Donna “saw him deteriorate in front of (her) eyes” as he also suffered vascular dementia. He was admitted on to the ward she was working on, but she was not allowed time off unless he died.
He died in 2017 before he got to see her become a consultant. Donna always promised she would buy her parents a house once she got settled into her career, but this is yet to happen. Donna, who lives in London, is “grateful” for her experiences because “they’ve made (her) the person (she is) today” and she and her mother Tarulata, 76, “always stop and talk about how grateful” they are as they “cannot believe” they no longer have to worry about money.
