COURAGEOUS GIRL

Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1932, Page 3

COURAGEOUS GIRL

TWENTY-ONE OPERATIONS. AMPUTATION OF LEG. Sydney, April 14. To most people the loss of a leg would mean the loss of all hope of enjoying life, but to Rose Tramby, a country girl now in Sydney, it means a new lease of life—a life free from pain and worry, that will hold some enjoyment after all. To the' well-meaning, sympathy of those who would condole with her because she has had a limb amputated, she replies, “What’s the use of worrying? It only makes other people miserable as well as yourself.” This from a 22-year-old girl who has not had a dance or played a game for six years and has spent over three years in bed. With the amputation of her leg a week ago she underwent her 21st operation since 1926.

Six years ago Miss Tramby was walking through the garden of her home when she struck her shin on a tap. She took little notice of the accident until a swelling formed on her leg,. Doctors diagnosed the trouble as an abscess and within a week she submitted to operation number one—the leg was opened up and the abscess drained. When this had been done seven times within a month it was recognised that something serious was wrong and the girl came to Sydney for treatment. A specialist diagnosed the girl’s trouble as osteomylitis—a disease affecting the bone, which rots away—and, since then Rose’s life has been just one operation after another. There followed 11 operations in Sydney Hospital and two in the Royal Prince Alfred for draining, bone scraping and the removal of decayed pieces of bone. On one occasion bone removals had left a dent, as it were, in her leg, so the surgeons took spare flesh from one part of the limb and grafted it in to fill up the hollow. From list, in weight Miss Tramby dropped to 7st. and, after a spell in the country for her to build up, returned to Sydney and had the leg amputated above the knee. Now she is rapidly gaining weight, is free from pain and worry and her one concern is for the next few months to pass so that she can wear an artificial limb.

“I’ll be able to dance, then,” the girl says. "Why, there’s a man up home who has a false leg and he never misses a dance. He and I will be good mates. And maybe I’ll be able to play some games, too, just like other girls. Meanwhile I can stick to my hobbies —sewing shirts on to buttons and playing music—on the gramo-