A town that cares acts as tonic for sufferers

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 11

A town that cares acts as tonic for sufferers

r People in Ashburton can feel justly proud that they helped to give birth to one of the most dynamic M.S. groups in the country. Living in a small caring community like Ashburton has given the 15 people there with M.S., a new cause for hope. Only three years ago, Linda Telfer moved to Ashburton with her husband, Lex, a school teacher, and two young sons, Simon and Shane.

In 1975, when she was 27, Linda Telfer travelled from the Beaumont area near Lawrence to the( Miller Ward of Dunedin Hospital, where specialists “put her through the ropes,” in an attempt to find out what was causing a confusing number of symptoms that threatened to rob her of the ability to lead a normal life. When she entered Dunedin Hospital on that fateful day in 1975 she took a step which has sadly placed' her among more than 3000 people in this country for whom the diagnosis — multiple sclerosis — is a daily fact of life. Dr Keith Macleod and Professor Martin Pollock, two 'of this country’s leaders in the field of multiple sclerosis research and diagnosis, were sure of what Linda suffered from. What they were nbt so sure of was how this apparently fit young wife and mother would cope with the daily threat .of progressive physical disability. At first, the shock of the diagnosis shattered . Linda Teller’s normal happy composure. For her - husband and' their relatives, the mystery of M.S. -added further confusion — so little seemed to be knownabout the disease and so few people seemed able to understand what living with a mystery was- like. To be.closer to a larger centre, Linda and Lex brought their young sons to Ashburton and it was there that she found the answer to : many of her doubts, fears, and frustrations. -

Linda, like so many people with M.S., realised that normal social contact was an important tool , to help her fight her daily battle with M.S. . The tiredness, lethargy ~nd often -downright anger at not- being able, to cope with many small tasks made her realise that what she needed was to meet someone' 'else' with ; M.S. and find out how they coped.' This■ she- did - with the backing of Mrs Lesley

Glassey, whose sister, Claire Wilson also had M.S. When Mrs Glassey and her band of enthusiastic volunteers brought Linda Telfer and Claire Wilson together at a special luncheon in 1977, they started a unique self-help group for M.S. Linda Telfer and Claire Wilson were soon joined by another young woman, Mrs Helen Trimmer. daughter of a well known county councillor and Justice of the Peace, Mr W. A. Franks. Helen had returned . to Ashburton after being diagnosed M.S. in Canada. With her Canadian husband, Gordon, she was keen to do as much as possible to remove the ignorance which so many people had about M.S. Much to the regret of local M.S. people, Helen and Gordon left Ashburton and returned to Canada, where she is now able to gain help from the neurological clinic where she was

first diagnosed in Ontario. Helen and Gordon Trimmer faced one of the biggest decisions that any young couple must face when confronted with M.S.: Should they have a family or not?

With a wisdom which came from a true understanding of M.S., they opted to have a family and only two weeks ago their two-year-old daughter, Jennifer, was presented with a baby brother, Christopher. For the Ashburton “M.S.ers,” their biggest single public achievement was in 1978 when they went all out to raise funds in the first co-ordinated street appeal in league with their sister organisation, based in Christchurch. Linda Telfer and her band of helpers from several service clubs in the town put posters up in shops and distributed educational material on M.S. The people of Ashburton rallied round and gave outstanding support to their efforts and many M&

people were helped as a result The students at Ashbtirton College weighed in with support as did the local newspaper, the “Ashburton Guardian,” and “The Press." M.S. became big news and people learnt how Ashburton’s M.S. “community,” which now numbers 15, has to cope with the disease.

Last week the group met to keep in touch with the M.S. Society’s field officer (Mrs Yet Schellekens) and some of the Christchurch M.S. people. It was an occasion tinged with sadness because the 20 people met for the first time without one of their most loved and oldest members, Angus Robertson, who died earlier this year. Angus had been a popular resident of Turangi Home for 13 years and he left a deep impression on .the Ashburton community. His daughter, Pam Driscoll, and her husband, Howard, entertained the