‘THERE’S ALWAYS HOPE’
A FREAK ACCIDENT CHANGED HER LIFE – BUT SHE DIDN’T LET IT BEAT HER
Pauline’s second chance at life
Embarking on a three-week European journey – which included travelling through Russia in a minibus at the height of the Cold War – was to be the trip of a lifetime for Kiwi Pauline Stansfield.
But it became unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.
It was May 1969 and the qualified nurse had left Auckland a year earlier to work at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
She was excited to sign up for an adventure holiday exploring the sights of Moscow, Warsaw and Prague.
On the third morning of the group tour, the then-30year-old was dozing at the back of the minivan, having not slept particularly well the previous night while camping on hard Russian ground in Novgorod.
“Our van was on its way to Moscow when there was a terrifying noise as the vehicle spun across the road, somersaulted a couple of times and rolled down the bank,” recalls Pauline, who believes the front suspension of the older vehicle had suddenly fractured.
“I thought, ‘This is the end of me,’ as I was thrown forward and back as the van tumbled, because, of course, there were no seatbelts.”
The vehicle landed upside down in a marshy swamp and Pauline lay there with no feeling in her legs. She knew instantly that she was paralysed. No-one else appeared to be badly hurt.
“The driver ordered me to climb down through the window but I couldn’t do that. Not only had I broken my back,
I’d broken seven ribs. It was very painful to breathe and excruciating to be lifted,” she says, wincing at the memory.
“Correct early care is fundamental to any recovery of the spinal cord and I had the very worst of early care. An ambulance should have been called and I should have been strapped onto a stretcher to keep my spine in alignment.
“So for members of the travel company to carry me in a sitting position up the bank and hail down an old truck to put me into was a very bad move.”
She was taken to hospital in nearby Vyshny Volochek and the story of her accident attracted strong interest from the New Zealand and British press.
“I was flat on my back day and night for two months, which was very uncomfortable. How I yearned to change position. But when I asked, they said,
‘No, we can’t do that.’ I was left unable to communicate with anyone back home in
New Zealand, and developed pneumonia and pleurisy and almost died.”
Understandably, the dark days were numerous. She despaired over her future. “No-one wants to live confined to a wheelchair,” she says. But she credits her Christian faith and family support for her remarkable recovery.
“My brother Frank came over to visit me in hospital twice and my father Harold travelled from New Zealand, despite having bad arthritis in his hips.
“I was also helped by my church in London, All Souls Langham Place – Reverend
John Stott wrote a wonderful letter to me in hospital – and the Cordwainers Guild was very kind and paid my fare from Russia to England.”
After spending eight months in intensive rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, acclaimed for its spinal injuries unit, Pauline started to regain some strength and confidence.
Now, 50 years later and living in a retirement home on Auckland’s North Shore, the 80-year-old wheelchair advocate has recently been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to people with disabilities.
She says adjusting to life in a wheelchair was “a biggie”, but she’s proof there’s hope for the most difficult of life’s challenges.
“I was able to return to my old job at Royal Free Hospital for a year, before returning to Auckland and teaching at the School of Nursing in Epsom. I lived in the Laura Fergusson residential centre for 18 months in a lovely accessible apartment and was able to drive.”
In later years, Pauline, an accomplished musician, began teaching piano and also became a Justice of the Peace.
“I was keener on the piano than anything else but had given up playing because I couldn’t use the pedals anymore,” explains Pauline, who still suffers most days from “terrible” neuropathic pain in her legs.
“But I met the director of the Disability Resource Centre, who developed various things for people in wheelchairs, so I asked him if he could devise me a gadget to use the pedals on the piano. He said he could! It was marvellous.”
Pauline was also instrumental in establishing the Disabled Persons Assembly on the North Shore, in her role as secretary.
One of the group’s projects was distributing beach buggies, which look like a reclining chair on wheels, to the main North Shore beaches.
“I was lucky enough to demonstrate the first one and I swam out to sea – truly amazing!”
In 2017, after many nudges from friends, she wrote her first book, a memoir titled Russia Changed My Life.
“When I look back on my life, I see that nothing has been wasted, neither my nursing training nor music qualifications. Both have provided me with gainful employment. And my JP duties bring me into contact with people who need help, so I am still able to fulfil a useful role in the community.”