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| STORIES FROM OUR PEOPLE | 
| Edith Morris | I
contracted polio when I was 6 months old in an epidemic. It took years
of rehabilitation before I could walk with the aid of long leg braces
and crutches, which I have used all my life to be upright and mobile.
Part
of my childhood recovery was water therapy, massage and exercise at the
Wilson Home in Takapuna. My tight and twisted limbs would gradually
relax in the warm water, and then I would be laid out on the wide
veranda in the sun for fresh air. Daily sessions of hydrotherapy by
trained physiotherapists were routinely provided to the hundreds of
small children and adults who got poliomyelitis in the years before the
Salk / Sabin vaccine was discovered in the mid-1950s. Many polio
survivors owe their mobility to those initial hydrotherapy treatments
years ago.
Even though I have always walked with braces and
sticks, and now use a wheelchair, my life is a very full and satisfying
one and not limited by my polio. I am married and now have two
grandsons. For 25 years we lived in Japan as Christian missionaries,
and returned to Hamilton 10 years ago. I enjoy my involvement in the
community as a spokes-person for those with disabilities. One of my
special joys was being part of the team that assisted the Hamilton City
Council to produce their Disability Strategy, and I often present
Disability Awareness Training to various organisations.
As a
broadcaster with Community Radio Hamilton, I made a place for the
stories and achievements of people with disabilities in our city, and
strongly advocated and publicised the need for a Hydrotherapy pool.
Soon young children with disabilities, older people and those with
special needs will all enjoy this purpose-built facility.
As
National President for the Post Polio Support Society, I encounter the
late effects of polio in many of our members, including myself. We are
now hit with new muscle weakness, fatigue and pain. The relaxing,
soothing and therapeutic benefits of hydrotherapy are vital for the
well-being and health of those who have Post Polio Syndrome. We can
hardly wait for our first session in the new hydrotherapy pool.
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Edith as a child receiving hydrotherapy treatment |
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