 Braille had always been a sickly child , and his condition worsened in adulthood . A persistent respiratory illness , long believed to be tuberculosis , dogged him , and by the age of forty , he was forced to relinquish his position as a teacher . When his condition reached mortal danger , he was admitted to the infirmary at the Royal Institution , where he died in 1852 , two days after he had reached the age of forty @-@ three . 
