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The Fight Against Disease
In 1914 the vaccine against polio hadn ’ t been created . Today , polio has been eradicated in New Zealand due to immunisation . The effort to immunise all against disease continues .
Jim Savage - Polio Sufferer 1958 MBE Recipient and Paralympian
I worked in Kawerau Mill , I was a farmer before that , but I worked in the Mill and had a day off and went hunting in the Taraweras . We went out overnight sleeping on a big high ridge and I couldn ’ t sleep . I had aching in the knees and the hips and I put it down to the rugby game I had played the day before when I had my tooth broken and I thought , ‘ oh well it ’ s just the tough work I did at the rugby ’.
It started with aching in my knees and hips and I managed to put the sleeping bag over my knees and that stopped the aching . That was 3 o ’ clock . At 4 o ’ clock in the morning I managed to wake the bloke next to me and couldn ’ t feel my leg . It just wasn ’ t working . So I had to rethink my hunting experience . I went down a hill and we had to go across a river on a wire rope . It had a cart on it but somebody had taken the pulley off so I had to go across the wire rope hand-over-hand . It was so hot ! I must have been also carrying a temperature you see , and when I went across I thought ‘ oh that water looks lovely ’ and I dropped in . But then I had to crawl out carrying this heavy leg . I had to go across a bit of land to the car and it took me from 5 o ‘ clock in the morning to 2 o ’ clock in the afternoon to crawl out of there with the rifle . That was in 1958 .
That night I had to crawl into my top bunk . We had eight bunks for us kids and that day my mother , who was a caterer , had people to stay which meant I was on the top bunk . I got into bed and the doctor was called but he couldn ’ t come because someone was having a baby , which was nice . Believe it or not the next morning I had to go to the toilet so I hopped down thinking I had a leg which I didn ’ t - it was gone ! The doctor came at about 10 o ’ clock and then I went straight into hospital . It had got in between my shoulder blades down , right down . It had attacked me and one side was stronger than the other . I had a bit of trouble getting rid of water but I had to do it and that was a relief !
I was only there for two days before they flew me to Auckland . I was put in a special ward . They had a lot of people with polio there in Auckland and there was a girl there from Thornton , near Whakatane . She was Betty Norhthcote and I had to feel so lucky as she was in an iron lung and at times I would feed her . I fed her because often the nurses were so busy . I was very fortunate in a way .
Jim has a personal motto – “ There ’ s no such word as can ’ t .”
I was 22 . I loved dancing , I was an athlete , I was a rugby player , I was a bit of everything , which was proved later in life in my paralympics . I was really fit . I used to run up Mt Edgecumbe every Sunday .
At hospital I spent all this time in a room , using a toilet with a pan and one day the doctor came in and told me they reckoned I ’ d be there for two years . After I ’ d only been there about five months the doctor came in and he saw me sitting up on the side of the bed and he didn ’ t believe it . He just did not believe it ! That was the only way I felt comfortable , sitting on the end of the bed and the doctor said , “ you ’ re not supposed to be off your back ”. From there they got me dressed in calipers and I was home in six months . In time to be the best man for my brother ’ s wedding .
I had strength in my upper body which helped when I went on calipers but they broke one day and went through my leg and that hurt quite a bit . I got married on calipers .
I had a wheelchair , the oldest wheelchair you could imagine . It had one wheel on the back , two wheels on the side and I used to get around on that for a little while . I would jump out of bed in the morning and crawl to the toilet . It was in Auckland Hospital I learnt how to crawl and how to balance using my arms . Crawl not drag , but crawl and I ’ ve done that ever since , until I hurt my back .
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