American paediatrician Richard Garcia once described the case of a friend who as a child repeatedly failed to receive a correct diagnosis for cystic fibrosis because it was thought to be a white disease, and she was black. Only when a passing radiologist happened to spot her chest X-ray, without knowing to whom it belonged, was her condition instantly spotted. She had to wait until she was eight years old, and her colour had to be invisible, before she could be diagnosed.
