China is a country of many contrasts and contradictions, one being blatant opulence alongside abject poverty. However, I am reminded many times of the fact that it wasnt many years ago that China was still considered a third world country, and that diseases such as polio, now completely eradicated here, were once rampant. I often see people with physical disabilities trying to do the best they can to survive in a system where they receive few benefits to give them a better quality of life. On Friday I was at my Erqi bus stop waiting for my connecting bus to go home, when I noticed a man, somewhat dirty and in poor clothing, perhaps in his 40s, walking with a pronounced limp across the road. As he arrived at my stop, it suddenly dawned on me what his limp indicated: polio! It was in the way he threw his right leg forward to compensate for the partial paralysis in his foot and leg, a very typical symptom of the effects of polio on the feet. I looked at his foot. He was wearing an old pair of casual shoes - you wouldnt call them sneakers - and from the way the toe of the right shoe was bent up, his foot inside it was much shorter than the other foot, which appeared fairly normal. He had difficulty placing his heel on the ground because it was quite obvious his Achilles tendon was too tight to enable it, so most of the time he stood with his right foot on its toe. From the severity of his limp, I would guess his right leg was probably a little shorter than his left as well, exaggerating the effect of the muscle paralysis in his foot, which Id guess was probably flat as well. It suddenly hit me! This could have been me! I was fortunate enough to have been born in Australia, with among the best medical and surgical care available in the world at that time. Not only that, I grew up in Queensland, which in those days provided free hospital and surgical care (Yes, I know - unbelievable, and no Medicare either!), which is just as well, because my parents couldnt afford private health insurance. Right from the start, when I contracted polio at the age of 3, I received regular physiotherapy, medical consultations with top orthopaedic specialists from Brisbane, specially-made shoes courtesy of the Queensland government, surgical procedures every couple of years till I was 16, which gradually saw the muscle waste and tightening Achilles tendons corrected and compensated for, so that by the time I was 17 I was able to walk in normal-looking shoes, live comfortably and independently, and settle into a productive and worthwhile career. Physically I could do what most people could do. I could walk easily, ride a bike, drive a car, and I even climbed to the top of Mt Warning in NSW! My left foot is about 3 sizes smaller than my right, but I can walk on it normally, and I even wear nice shoes which make the size difference almost impossible to notice. My right foot is flat, but I wear inner sole orthotics so that problem is almost completely unnoticeable, by me or anyone else. I have a slight limp, barely detectable, which doesnt in any way restrict my mobility. My feet bare many scars from the childhood operations, but I am grateful for them, because they have enabled me to live a normal life. As I saw this other polio survivor, I saw what could have been me, had I been born in China rather than Australia. I was reminded of the statement traditionally attributed to the middle ages preacher and evangelist, John Bradford (although that origin is not proven), There, but for the grace of God, go I.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 05:28:20 +0000
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