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Polio made me who I am: Helen and Ruth

Helen is a teacher working with pupils with learning difficulties. She says it was her own experiences growing up with polio which motivates her in this career helping others.

Helen was diagnosed with polio when she only fifteen months old and despite undergoing repeated operations and surgical procedures as well as long periods using crutches, she was doggedly determined to have a normal childhood.

She was able to attend a mainstream school and after refusing to wear leg calipers to aid with walking went on to play in her school hockey, netball and tennis teams.

Her daughter Ruth feels she is only discovering the full extent of the impact of polio on her mum's life now. Ruth and her husband Michael live in Bangor County Down. Ruth works in Youth Justice as a Care Worker.

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