Sharing a life with polio

Roger Tonkin taught himself to walk again and wears a different shoe size on each foot.

But the former New Plymouth radio announcer is adamant his early brush with polio makes him no different to anyone else.

Mr Tonkin will share his experience with the disease at the national conference, Living Well With Polio, in New Plymouth this weekend.

As a self-described "baby boomer polio," he caught the disease as a 2 1/2-year-old in the 1950s and said his mother was devastated when he was diagnosed.

"She still carries the guilt that I got it even though it was absolutely nothing to do with her. She's 97 now and still asks me every week how my leg is," Mr Tonkin said.

And although his parents were shocked at first, he said his polio was not a big deal as a child as they encouraged him to "rock on and do what I wanted".

He could not run around the schoolyard or kick a ball.

But at high school he discovered rowing – strapping his bad right leg in and getting his left to do all the work.

"I did develop massive calf, quad and chest muscles on my left side and had my little leg hanging off to the side."

The conference is in the beautiful Taranaki region
12-14 August in New Plymouth

He admits to having always worked his body harder than he should have, and swears it has paid dividends. Now he runs his own contracting waste management business and says physically he is at his peak.

Mr Tonkin had the last of his four operations as a teenager and is now in no pain.

His toes have been pinned to stop them from curling and his left leg is half the size of his right.

"I have a couple of inches of some else's tendon in the back of my leg so I can put my heel on the ground. It was a bit of a revelation learning how to walk again."

Although he says it puts things into perspective when he sees some of his contemporaries in wheelchairs. Because of that, he is unashamedly supportive of immunisation, something he says is easily administered.

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"I understand that some parents are concerned kids may get something but having lived with a minor touch of something like this I'm right into it."

He hopes people can learn from his story.

"Basically I was a kid growing up with a disability, lucky that it was just minor. Now I'm watching the fact that polio has not disappeared," he said.

"Because it was almost eliminated a lot of people aren't aware of it but it scares me that it could come back. I'm living proof it can hurt you."

The conference opens at The Quality Hotel Plymouth International on Friday, with presentations on coping with pain, sleep apnoea and foot care. 

Kate Saunders reporting - Taranaki Daily News with another article here ....