When I was nine years old, I caught a chill and then pneumonia from having swimming lessons (which I loved), in a covered, tepid, learners’ pool. Dad was against me taking so much antibiotic, and my course of medication was not finished. From then on, I was a sickly child with a chronically infected lung, ears and sinuses. I was absent from school a lot.

At the age of seventeen many of my joints suddenly became swollen, red, extremely painful and stiff. I was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis. I felt like I was old before my time, my dream of studying Medicine dashed, and to cap it off, was given one of my Grandmother’s walking sticks to aid me. My self image suffered. Life was difficult to say the least.

I didn’t begin to recover until the bottom half of my right lung was surgically removed.

About nine months later my joints gradually improved enough to let me do a Science Degree and attend Teachers’ College the following year. My pupils often asked me “How come your hands have those knobs on them?” I told them briefly.

More recently I have been referred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Rotorua for a month at a time. While there, exercise in really warm water helped me to regain my mobility by loosening up my muscles, tendons and joints. I have also used the Dunedin Physio Pool when there, and regularly used a small, private leisure pool in Hamilton which sadly, has poor access, preventing a good number of disabled people attending.

As treatments have improved, a cocktail of medications has put a stop to my flare-ups and most pain. Medication cannot take away the permanent joint damage which hampers my ability to exercise on land.

I believe in the adage doctors often quote,”use it or lose it”. The new Hydrotherapy Pool will encourage incapacitated and disabled people to exercise to improve their health and well-being because of its easy access to the warm water.