Rena Waudby - TLM Hero

Rena grew up in the Scottish Highlands and studied medicine at Aberdeen University. After graduating, she saw The Leprosy Mission was looking for doctors and so she signed up.

When she first went to Nigeria in the 1950s, she had never treated leprosy before; she arrived and learnt quickly on the job. She met her husband, Alan, when they worked together at the same hospital. In 1959, they were posted together to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, Rena and Alan worked at Hei Ling Chau, a small island that the government had designated as a leprosy colony in 1950.

After many years of service, Rena and Alan moved to London in 1975, where Rena served as a GP doctor and worked at the Leprosy Study Centre, where she contributed to leprosy research. Eventually, Rena and Alan retired to Inverness in Scotland, where they continued to serve The Leprosy Mission until Rena died in 2019.

Anne Muirden met Rena during her time in Inverness and said, "I met Rena when I joined our local Leprosy Mission fundraising group in Inverness. Rena was president of the group, but she was one of the most humble and gentle people I've known. Although fundraising may not have come naturally to Rena, she was a constant encouragement to us all. To this day we have a prayer group which Alan and Rena started. We give thanks for their lives, their work and witness."