One suitcase, three kids: a broke scientist pursues a dream
Lives Less Ordinary
BBC
4.7 • 885 Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When Ijeoma Uchegbu arrived back in the UK as a single mum of three young children she soon found herself living in a homeless shelter; now she is a pioneer in the field of nanoparticles in medicine.
Ijeoma Uchegbu has dedicated her career to studying pharmaceutical nanoscience, seeking out ways to carry medicines to parts of the body that are notoriously hard to reach. But as a schoolgirl in the UK her aspirations were to work in a shop and earn enough to go dancing at weekends. It was when her Nigerian father took her back to his home country, aged 13, that she discovered a passion for science and a burning ambition.
Ijeoma went to university at 16, married and started a family of her own but when her marriage failed, desperate to do a PhD she moved back to the UK. By now Ijeoma was a single mum-of-three. The family had one suitcase, no coats, and just £500 to start a new life. It was a battle to keep the family afloat, fed, and safe. But Ijeoma is a fighter; soon she had a job in a lab and a home and a few years later she found love again.
Ijeoma co-founded a pharmaceutical company with her new husband. They are currently developing eyedrops to treat blindness and a nasal spray to target pain which she hopes will go some way to addressing the opioid crisis. She was given a damehood earlier this year and is a champion of race equality, and it turns out she also has a talent for stand-up comedy.
Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Andrea Kennedy
Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.5 | It's like going into an ice bath with your hands as the ice. |
| 0:10.8 | In 2025, we were here for the entertainment. |
| 0:13.8 | Ellis and John. |
| 0:14.9 | Have you not considered just coffee, which is what I do? |
| 0:17.6 | Sightracked with Annie and Nick. |
| 0:19.4 | Stevie Wonder, welcome. Oh, pleasure. Loyal Carnar is with us. Want to hear all about Glastonbury. And Celebrity Traitors Uncloaked. Welcome to Uncloaked, Ireland. Oh, thanks for having me, Ed. The winner. I know, still hasn't sunk in. Get the best of 2025 with podcasts on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:40.1 | I'm at the airport. |
| 0:43.5 | Not only do we not have a plan, we don't have a coat. |
| 0:44.9 | It's the 4th of December. |
| 0:45.6 | So it's freezing. |
| 0:49.1 | The children have one light sweater each. |
| 0:51.2 | So we're actually huddled. |
| 0:56.8 | Quite quickly, we were in a homeless person's unit. At one point, |
| 1:03.3 | we have 11 families sharing a bathroom. One bathroom. One bathroom and one toilet. So, Jama, you were a single mum. You've got three young daughters, almost no money. You don't mind a challenge, |
| 1:09.9 | do you? Needs muster. This young mum of three |
| 1:15.5 | had just arrived back to the country of her birth with a dream. I want to be a scientist. I want to get a PhD, |
| 1:22.9 | but I remember sort of telling people and they laughed in my face. You're going there with three |
| 1:27.4 | children and you want to be a scientist. People they laughed in my face. You're going there with three children and you want to be a scientist. |
| 1:29.9 | People actually laughed in my face. |
| 1:31.5 | This will never work. |
| 1:37.4 | The odds were certainly stacked against her |
... |
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