Pat & John's Story

Pat

Pat and her husband John celebrate 52 years of marriage this year.

Pat moved to the Illawarra from Melbourne in 1967. She and John always loved the Illawarra for scenery and the people who live here.

Due to health problems, Pat and John have had help from Wollongong and Port Kembla Hospitals and they speak their praise continually.

Pat and John both joined the Warilla Shellharbour Arthritis Branch where they serve on its Committee and they enjoy lifelong friendships. “There is always someone who can help with life’s problems.”

Pat praises Housing Trust for helping her and John. “The staff treat you as a person not a number. Our unit is open plan. This helps with John being able to get around in his wheelchair with very little difficulty. Also being unable to do repairs it makes life easier.”

John

John is a polio survivor and since 2010 has used an electric wheelchair.

“I first contracted polio when I was approximately 18 to 24 months old. As I was having a problem breathing, I was placed in an iron lung for just over six months when the matron saw that I was breathing on my own again. As I got older, I had to wear leg braces – this caused many years of bullying because I could not run and play sports.”

The bullying sadly got worse when John went to High School. “I was even picked on by the teachers who made me try to jump the wooden horse. When I could not, I used to get sent to the headmaster who gave me six cuts to my hands.

After years of bullying, John took his leg braces off and hid them in a neighbour’s front hedge when catching the bus to school. As the bullying got bad, John’s uncle took him to learn how to box. John boxed until he was almost 16 years old when he emigrated from Wales to Australia.

John’s dad did not want to take John to Australia, but his mum would not have John stay in Wales. John’s dad believed he “wasn’t a man because of the polio”. Upon arriving in Australia, John received an apprenticeship in the Department of Defence. “Because of my limp and my speech, I got into a lot of fights. Won most, but also lost a few.”

John met his wife Pat at the end of 1970. They were engaged in October 1973 and this year they celebrate their 52nd wedding anniversary. John says, “If it wasn’t for Pat, settling me down, I would be dead long before now”.

John had a stroke on Australia Day 2014. This was when he first met the management team from Housing Trust. A little while later, Housing Trust contacted John and Pat about a villa unit that would meet their housing needs. Pat and John accepted and moved into the brand new unit in April 2016.