EDUCATORS WITHOUT BORDERS

"A lot of academic don't care about solutions, they first want to write about problems."

- Prof. Anna Hunter

The Marathon of Hope (Part III)

Learning from those who conquered disease?

By Prof. Talaat I. Farag

No one is immune from having a health crisis at some point in her/his life journey. Babies may be born with major congenital anomalies, children in the pre-school age may suffer from autism, accidents may occur at any age, and with increasing life expectancies, many diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's are much more common today. In this section we present a countdown of eight inspirational stories of heroism over debilitating physical ailments. The following real-life stories illustrate the remarkable achievements of different people suffering from varying health problems and serve as examples of how crises can be overcome. The extraordinary achievements of the Canadian runner Terry Fox and American cyclist Lance Armstrong were featured in the January 2007 issue. They have become some of the most prominent symbols of battle against disease in the modern age. In this third part, we present examples of heroes who have overcome various limb anomalies (congenital or acquired through accidents or diseases).

British Writer with her Toes

Maureen Smith was born armless on August 1, 1943 in Britain, with one leg twisted and feeble. She succeeded by the support of her parents and family alongside her community to not only complete her secondary education, but also to be able to write her biography, "On My Toes", published by Frederick Muller in 1972 with a preface by Group-Captain Douglas Bader - the legless wartime fighter pilot, who had become a legend in his lifetime and was an example to other disabled people. Bader himself became the topic of a book entitled "Reach for the Sky" written by Paul Brickhill.

He noted, "books written about people who are different fascinate me. Maureen Smith has decided to write her own story, and here it is. It is a factual account of a girl who was born with only one sound limb - a leg. The narrative is simply written and provides a faithful record of how Maureen, with the aid and affection of her equally courageous parents, has managed to lead a comparatively normal life for the last 27 years. It contains no false heroics - there is no need, the facts speak for themselves. One line from this book stays in my mind because of its absolute truth: Independence of any kind is most important to a disabled person."

The afterword was written by Mr. Jimmy Savile. He notes, "So I called to see Mo (Maureen) and it did cross my mind to kidnap her. When she slapped my face with her foot, I realized she could give me big troubles, like all dolly birds. Cancelling the kidnap idea, we all settled down for tea, and I left having found a new girlfriend!"

Maureen was also interested in writing about other armless people, such as Ted Gosling, a native of a small seaside resort on the north Norfolk coast, who as well as being an artist, was good at woodwork, with a horse on wheels as his latest pieces. Marilyn Gillies who also born armless, worked as a typist when she was 21 in her hometown of Dundee. Maureen writes, "I enjoyed seeing the expression on the faces of shop assistants when Marilyn 'footed' money to them." Also, she wrote about Mary Gordon, her American armless friend, who married and had two perfectly normal sons.

Not only was her life story an interesting one to read, Maureen was in fact an excellent scribe. The cover of her book shows a sample of her "toe-writing" was appears both legible and elegant. Through writing her life story as an armless person, and by drawing attention to others with similar conditions, she demonstrated people's ability to succeed despite the hurdles they face.

The last words in Maureen Smith's 1972 book, On My Toes, were, "I hope, left no doubts in my readers' mind, that life in a wheel-chair can be of great fun."

Pakistani Computer Programmer with his Nose

The wheel-chaired, 20-year-old Pakistani youth, Wakas Ahmad, has succeed to overcome his congenital disability problems in both his hands and feet.

He insisted to learn how to become a computer programmer by using his toes, right elbow and nose. It took him 2 years to complete his training and has since created his own site.

Due to his perseverance, Wakas, is the only person noted in the Guinness World Records database who can operate a computer with his nose.

Canadian Sergeant Para-Olympic Athlete

Sergeant Karen McCoy lost her left leg to cancer but she is determined to compete in the Paralympics Games in Vancouver 2010. Athletic rehabilitation program aims to take injured army personnel to Paralympics glory. The program comes on the heels of US veterans rehabilitation program called, "Wounded Warriors," which started to promote recovery through sport two years ago after US injuries in Iraq mounted. Organizers hope to send as many as 30 US athletes to the Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing in 2008. The Paralympics movement was started by disabled veterans of the Second World War, who found that sports were an excellent way to bring normalcy to their lives. Sergeant McCoy, an aviation technician as CFB Gagetown, who ran 16 kms daily before losing her left leg to cancer, equipped with a number of prosthetic legs for standing and running, has set her sights on competing at the Paralympics circuit saying, "It is a dream of mine, as soon as I get a perfect prosthetic leg, I am going to train. I love any kind of sports and this is a way to say, 'no leg who cares!"

The Accidental Quadriplegic University Professor

Dr. Jacques Voyer, 56, adjunct professor of psychiatry at McGill University, had become quadriplegic due to an accident when he was a 21-year-old medical student at Laval University. He wrote his 2003 autobiography, "Que Freud me pardonne." In it he writes, "I was on top of the world,." But when he hit his head in the bottom of a friend's swimming pool, he knew immediately that he had severed his spinal cord. The 12-months of rehabilitation left him quadriplegic and wheel-chaired. In 1972, he resumed his medical studies, but with only limited mobility in his hands and arms, his dream of becoming a surgeon was replaced by his desire to become a psychiatrist.  He spent 12 years working with dangerous criminals accessing their insanity pleas at the Philippe-Pinel Institute. He noted that the most difficult part of his apprenticeship as healer, was transcending the shame about being a doctor on a wheelchair. He married Francyne Font Charrette, who had lost her husband and was injured in a car accident. Dr. Voyer, was made Knight of the Order of Quebec in 1998 and was awarded the Order of Canada in 2004. He died with his wife when their minivan crashed into a bus on Montreal's Champlain Bridge.

Helping Parkinson's Patients Walk

Dr. Quincy Almeida, director of the Movement Disorders Research and Rehabilitation Centre in Waterloo, Ontario, helped the former Olympic track coach, Brent McFarlane, 49, to train his brain to better control his movements. The former Olympic track coach, Brent remembers a time when he could sprint 200-metres in 22.3 seconds. Affected with  Parkinson's Disease, he has moments when he simply cannot move. The Waterloo Centre has a stellar reputation and is considered one of the few centers of its kind worldwide. Scientists from Laurier, Waterloo, McMaster and Western Ontario universities are integrating basic research with rehabilitation to come up with specialized programs that help reverse some of the symptoms of movement disorders such as Parkinson's. Mr. McFarlane, used to be more than independent, coaching track athletes in 4 Olympic Games, including gold medal sprinter, Donovan Bailey. He said, he first noticed signs that something was wrong nearly 15 years ago. Since then the symptoms have gradually worsened: tremors, slurred speech, balance problems, shorter than normal gait, stiffness of limbs and freezing. 

Further Resources:

Donna G. Albrecht (1995). Raising a child who has a physical disability . New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

 Talaat I. Farag. "The Marathon of Hope (Part II): Learning from those who conquered disease?," The Ambassadors Magazine. Vol. 9, Issue 1, URL: http://ambassadors.net/archives/issue19/educators.htm

 Talaat I. Farag. "The Marathon of Hope: How to Conquer Any Health Crisis," The Ambassadors Magazine. Vol. 8, Issue. URL: http://ambassadors.net/archives/issue18/educators.htm

Maureen Smith.(1972) On My Toes. Frederick Mulle, UK .

Paul Brickhill. (2001) Reach for the Sky The Story of Douglas Bader, Legless Ace of the Battle of Britain. Naval Institute Press .

Ellen Schwartz (2007). Lessons from Jacob: A Disabled Son Teaches His Mother about Courage, Hope and the Joy of Living Each Day to the Fullest. Key Porter Books.

Prof. Talaat I. Farag, MD, FRCP, FACP, FACMG is a former adjunct professor at Dalhousie University in Canada. He is the founder of The Ambassadors Research Foundation in 1998. Email: tfarag@dal.ca. 

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