Putting polio behind her

Jill Hudson on the banks of the Waikanae Stream where she has been helping with planting native species to improve water quality.

JILL Hudson was just 14 months old when she was diagnosed with polio. At first the family doctor suspected she had sympathy pains as her mother was suffering back problems at the time and the two were very close.

But two weeks later, the doctor decided the problem was either spinal meningitis or polio. Tests at Cook Hospital confirmed that Jill had polio.

“It was 1955 and there was terrible fear about polio in those days,” says Jill, now 61.

“It was and still is a disease with no cure that can paralyse, maim and kill its victims,” she says.

“In the early stages with polio when patients were very ill, families were not allowed into isolation wards. Later when patients were recovering, there were restrictions on visiting to avoid upsetting young patients when family members had to leave. When my family first visited, I refused to speak to them, probably because I felt they had abandoned me.”

Jill doesn’t remember much about her weeks in hospital but has one particularly strong memory.

“Whenever I see someone wringing out a cloth in hot water, I shudder. Polio causes muscle spasms and shortened muscles so treatments early last century involved immobilising patients in an attempt to prevent deformities from developing.

“By the 1950s, treatments promoted by Australian nurse, Sister Kenny, were widely used and involved applying hot towels and massage to the muscles of the affected limbs to keep them moving and to minimise wasting and atrophy. Hence my aversion to white towels with red writing.”

Some 30 years later, Jill was astonished when a woman asked her if she was Jill Geddes who was in hospital with polio as a child.

“She remembered me from Cook Hospital when I was being treated for polio and she was recovering from meningitis. I was amazed that anyone would recognise me after more than three decades. She remembered the nurses putting hot towels on me.”

Once discharged, Jill used to go to the outpatients’ clinic at the hospital for regular check-ups.

“To help me learn to walk again, I always had to wear sturdy shoes but at my last check-up at the age of four years, the doctor said I could wear ordinary shoes. Mum was excited and took me shopping. I had the choice of a pretty pair of shoes and a sensible pair of lace-ups. I chose the lace-ups, much to my mother’s disappointment, because I was conditioned to think that type of shoe was good for me,” she says.

“People have forgotten about polio now but there used to be a huge stigma attached to it. Cripples were not deemed to be productive members of society and were put in institutions, out of the way.

“When I was young, I used to limp when I got tired. I remember Mum telling me to walk properly. It was important to appear normal and show no sign of polio.”

A happy childhood nonethelessDespite this, Jill had a happy childhood.

“My parents bought me a pedal-car which I actually found hard to operate, but it made me very popular with other kids.

“I realised early on I couldn’t keep up with the other kids so I took to books in a big way — it didn’t bother me being the last one to be picked for sports teams. I enjoyed reading so it gave me a way out, a legitimate excuse.

“I used to play knuckle bones when I was seven or eight years old. One girl would say ‘I’ll take your turn because you’re a cripple’. If I was losing, I’d let her but if I was winning I’d say, ‘No you won’t, it’s my turn’. I was more amused at her cheek than upset.”

Jill feels lucky to have survived polio with minimal long-term effects.

“My left leg suffered muscle wasting and is slightly shorter than my right leg which means I’m a little lop-sided and have some osteoarthritis. My feet are different sizes too so finding suitable shoes is always a challenge. But when I see other polio survivors, some of whom are severely disabled, I feel very grateful that I escaped comparatively unscathed.”

Jill has never let the shadow of polio hold her back. She graduated from Canterbury University with a BA in history in 1975 and then following her love of music, worked at Guy and Dunsmore for eight years.

Jill married in 1981 and gave birth to two daughters. She worked for the Department of Conservation for 14 years in a community relations and media role but was made redundant in a 2009 restructure.

Jill now does voluntary work with the Tairawhiti Environment Centre and the Waikanae Stream water improvement group.

“I enjoy the work. It doesn’t matter what your skills are, you can always contribute.”

Polio's after-effectsSixty years on from polio, Jill is finding that the after-effects of the illness increase with ageing.

“Post-polio symptoms include loss of flexibility, weakness and fatigue, and muscle and joint pain related to over-use of good limbs. My good leg gives me trouble these days because it’s tired of doing all the extra work. It’s very frustrating but I have found Pilates and yoga helpful,” she says.

“The old advice was to carry on regardless but now we are told to take notice of when you are tiring and not to push the pain threshold.”

Jill says getting a diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) is difficult, partly because it requires a process of elimination to rule out other conditions but mostly because so few medical people have any experience of treating polio or its after-effects.

“The big issue is getting polio survivors and their medical advisers to recognise that PPS may be the cause of increasing health problems.”

Jill, who has been president of the Gisborne Post-Polio Support Group since 1997, enjoys catching up with fellow members.

“Our small group meets four times a year and is affiliated to Polio NZ which provides access to international research on PPS and ways to manage the condition.

“One of the best things about polio survivors is their good humour. They are generally people who have survived considerable physical, mental and emotional pain so they truly enjoy the small pleasures in life.

“However, when I see friends increasingly struggle with everyday tasks due to PPS, I’m grateful that, all going well, there will soon be a day when, like smallpox, polio will be a historical footnote.

“The main measure of the effectiveness of polio vaccination is the fact that our membership numbers are declining which is a good thing — as long as people don’t think that polio has completely disappeared.

“Polio may appear to be a thing of the past, but until the wild virus is eradicated, it still poses a risk — hence the need to raise awareness through events like today’s World Polio Day.

“It’s a shocking and destructive disease and people, especially governments, still need to be vigilant.

“A number of people these days are seriously anti-vaccination and if the proportion of non-immunised people in the community is high enough, polio could return.

“No one remembers polio any more . . . but the speed of international air travel means that if immunity levels are low, the next epidemic may only be one flight away.”