CRIPPLE’S JOY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21598, 19 March 1932, Page 16

CRIPPLE’S JOY

MARVELS OF SURGERY ; A REMARKATJLE’CtfIKfc: v! i (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, March 10. The marvels of modern surgery have seldom been better exemplified than in the case of Miss Pearl Penny, who this week returned from Sydney to her outback home after -undergoing a aeries of remarkable and successful operations. When she arrived in Sydney a little more than two years ago she appeared to be a hopeless cripple. When she was five years of age she contracted the dreaded infantile paralysis, and at the age of 18 her legs were fearfully twisted and her right arm crooked and useless. For years she had hobbled about-.on crutches, a pitiful figure, until she came under the notice of the officials of. the Far West Health Scheme —anxofganis.ation that does marvellous work in’ restoring the health of children who suffer because of the inability of their parents to secure medical aid. A noted surgeon was interested in the case, and two years ago he commenced a series of operations in which bones were, taken from various parts of the body and used to reinforce and build up the ankles that had become twisted awry.. Gradually the legs were made straight and shapely, and before long she was able to;'walk without the aid of crutches, Incisions that were made in various parts of the body required 250 stitches in all, and for a while Miss Penny’s life became, as she herself put it,' “just one operation after another.” A long incision was made in her wrist and a muscle taken 1 out and transplanted in her hand. This enabled the thumb and fingers to work. Miss Penny has now returned home for a holiday. She has to undergo one more operation to her legs in a year’s time, and the doctors say that she will then be" able to ‘ play tennis and do all the things that any norma] young woman is able to do. In view of the prevalence of infantile paralysis in New South Wales this year the case has aroused great interest. Valuable lessons have been learnt and it is hoped as a* result that there will be ■ fewer permanent cripples than would otherwise have been the case.