Community champ struck by ill-health
A well-known Christchurch community advocate is in intensive care in Australia after being struck down by a sudden but debilitating illness.
Yvonne Palmer contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome while spending Christmas in Australia with her daughter and has been in intensive care for the past six weeks.
Guillain-Barre syndrome is a disorder where the immune system attacks nerves, causing numbness and weakness of muscles.
‘‘She is fighting really, really hard,’’ daughter Kath Campbell said. ‘‘Her sheer determination is making her recovery a lot better.’’
Palmer spent her first week in hospital in an induced coma.
She was now breathing through a ventilator and a tracheotomy – an incision in the windpipe to open her airway.
Palmer served on the ShirleyPapanui Community Board from 1989 to 2010, at times serving as chair and deputy chair.
She received a Queen’s Service Medal in 1998 for her services to the community and was made a member of the New
Zealand Order of Merit in the most recent New Year honours.
She established the Confident Driving Programme in 2007, to help seniors make better decisions while driving, and is projects coordinator at Age Concern, which supports seniors in Canterbury.
Palmer was in Melbourne when the New Year’s honour was announced. ‘‘She did not even get to really celebrate it at all,’’ Campbell said.
Doctors were preparing for Palmer to be flown back to Christchurch’s intensive care unit this week, Campbell said.
She did not have travel insurance and the cost of the flight would be between $20,000 and
$30,000.
A friend started a Givealittle page, which already has more than
$2000 in donations.
‘‘I showed Mum [the donations] before and she just cried. She was just blown away,’’ Campbell said.
‘‘People have been amazing, there is just heaps of support from the community, family and friends.’’
Palmer’s recovery would take ‘‘a good 6 to 12 months’’ and she would likely go to Burwood Hospital for rehab once she was off the ventilator, Campbell said.