I was born in Australia,on June 5,1932. There were 9 children before me and twelve after me , so I myself belong to the middle group . Out of this total of 22, 17 left but 4 died in infancy leaving 13 of us in the family.
Mine was a difficult birth, i am told. Both mother and son almost died. After my birth i was kept in the hospital for a while.
It was my mother who first saw that there was something wrong with me. I was about 4 months old at the time. She noticed that my head has a habit of falling backward she tempted to correct which by placing her hand on the back of my neck to keep it steady but when it was taken back it was dropped again that was the first warning sign that she became aware of the other side effects as i got older she saw that my hands were clenched nearly all of the time and were inclined to twine behind my back . my jaws would either be locked together tightly so that it was impossible for her to open them or they would certainly become slim and for lose my whole mouth to one side at 6 months i could not sit up without having the mountain of pillows around me at 12 months it was the same
Very worried my mother told my father of her fears and they decided to seek medical advice i was a little over a year old when they began to take me to hospitals and clinics they were convinced that there was something definitely wrong with me something which they could not understand or name but which was very disturbing.
Almost every doctor hope and examination mean labelled me a hopeless case many told my mother very gently that i was meant elite effective and would remain so there she told her that nothing could be done for me used to accept the truth that i was beyond cute she could not and would not believe that i was an cripple and the doctor told her she had not a scrap of evidence to support her conviction that though my body was crippled my mind was not in spite of all the doctors and specialist to older she would not agree they regarded me at just something to be said and wash and then put away again and not as a human it was then that mother decided to take matters into her old hands i was her child and therefore part of the family no matter how dull and in capable i might grow up to be she was determined to treat me just like the others.
That was the moment test decision as far as my future life was concerned it meant that i would always have my mother on my side to help me fight all the battles that word to come inspiring me with new friends when i was almost beaten but it wasn't easy for her because now the relatives and friends had decided otherwise they are you that i should be taking things simple but not seriously that would be a mistake for your own sake they told her don't look too this boy as you to the others it will only break your heart in the end lucky for me mother and father has out against the lot of them mother's what is your i was not an idiot out to provide not because of innocence of duty but out of love that is why she was so successful 4 years old now and still as well as a newly born baby my father was out to earn us butter and bread for a mother was the only patiently trying to help me it was hard work for her in return she got a smile i could not speak or even mumble nor could I sit up without support on my own let alone take steps.but I wasn't inert or motion less . My fingers twisted and twitched continuously my arms twined backwards and would often shoot out suddenly this way and that and head lolled and sagged sideways. I was a crooked little fellow.
Mother tell me how one day she had been sitting with me for hours in an upstairs room showing me pictures out of a great big story book and telling me the names of different animals and flowers that were I. Them trying without success to get me 2 repeat them this has gone on for hours while she talked and laughed with me. Then at the end of it she leaned over me and said gently Into my ear did u like it Chris did u like the bears and the monkeys and all the lovely flowers nod ur head for yes like a good boy.
But i could make no sign that i had understood her face bent over mine hopefully suddenly my hand reached up and caught 1 of the dark curls that fell about her neck gently she loosened the clenched fingers though some dark stands were still clutched between them.
After some days Mona and paddy were sitting huddled together a few torn Scholl books before them they were writing down sums onto an old chipped slate using a bright piece of yellow chalk I was close to them propped up by a few pillows against a wall watching .
It was the chalk that attracted me so much. It was a long slender stick of vivid yellow . I had never seen anything like it before and it showed up so well against the black surface of the slate that I was fascinated by it as much as if it had been a stick of gold.
Suddenly I wanted desperately to do Wat my sister was doing
Then without thinking or knowing exactly Wat I was doing I reached out and took the stick of chalk out my sister hand with my left foot . I do not know why I used my left foot to do this. I had never attempted before this to use either of my feet in any way they have been as useless as my hand.that day however my left foot as if by its own decision reached out and very impolitely took the chalk out my sister hand I held it tightly between my toes and ade wild sort of scribble with it on the slate.
Next moment i stop surprise looking down at the stick of yellow chowk stuck between my toes not knowing what to do with it next hardly knowing how it got there then i looked up and became aware that everyone had stop talking and was saying at me silently nobody mona her black curls framing her little face stared at me with great big eyes and open mouth
Across the open hall his face lit by flames sat my father leaning forward hands out spread on his knees his shoulders tense i felt the sweat break out on my forehead.
My mother came in from the store house with a feeling pot in hand she stop midway between the table and the fire feeling the tension flowing through the hall she followed the chair and sami in the corner her eyes look from my face down to my foot with the chalk group between my toes she put down the pot.
He came near mona and took another piece of chalk and drew the letter A on the slate and told me to copy that and I did as she told me to do there it was on the floor before e . Shaky with awkward wobbly sides and a very uneven center line but it was the letter A I looked up I saw my mother's face for a moment tears on her cheeks then my father swooped and hoisted me on his shoulder.
I had done it it had started the thing that was to give my mind the chance to express itself. True I couldn't speak with my lips but now I would speak through something more lasting than spoken words .that one letter scrawled on the floor with a broken bit of yellow chalk gripped between my toes was my road to a new world.
And then my parents took me to hospital and I was cured and therefore lived happily forever with my parents and brothers and sisters. The letter A
