What a woman!

 Enduring another wet miserable day in Sydney I decided to watch a movie from my 'watchlist".  I chose "The Best of Men" about the work of Dr Ludwig Guttmann with spinal injury patients at  Stoke Mandeville Hospital England. I wish to honour the life of a woman who calls Rookwood "home" and benefitted from Guttmann's treatment.

CHARLENE STUART MEADE OAM

Charlene was born in Sydney in 1931 to Charles Ingram Todman, and his second wife, Phyllis Stuart Pearce. Her grandfather, George Todman, with his partner Wilheim Von Der Heyde, set up a very successful import and tobacco merchant business in York Street Sydney in the 1870's. Both held positions of high civil duty and lived in vast homes in the Strathfield area. Charles like his father was a successful businessman starting in the tobacco industry and later progressing to paper production and news media. 

 

In 1946, whilst living in Double Bay, Charlene was working with her mother at the Tor Lodge in Bowral during school holidays when she was thrown from a horse while racing a friend. She was immediately taken to Bowral Hospital and then transported to Lewisham Hospital, west of Sydney. Charlene fractured her spine at T5 level and was paralysed from the waist down. Unfortunately the hospital, run by nuns, had no specialised spinal care area. Rehabilitation options were few at the time and after a few months in hospital she returned home. She was unable to return to her school which was not wheelchair accessible and and was schooled via the Correspondence School.

Four years later, travelling with her mother and a nurse, it was arranged for her to go to Wingfield-Morris Orthopaedic Centre after her father had met with Lord Nuffield who invited her there but her x-rays were lost en route and the the hospital assessed her condition was not suited to treatment they offered. Fortunately she fund a place at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire rehabilitating there for fifteen months under Guttmann's care. 

Guttmann believed in developing the upper body strength of his spinal cord patients in order for them to lead the best independent lives they could. He organised the first Stoke Mandeville Games for disabled war veterans, which was held at the hospital on 29 July 1948, the same day as the opening of the London Olympics. All participants had spinal cord injuries and competed in wheelchairs.

Whilst she was rehabilitating at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Charlene competed in the archery event in 1951 as a member of the Hospital's team. She was one of the first known women international competitors at the event and finished second among women in her event. These games led to the Paraplegic Games which then became known as the Paralympics.

Charlene (on left) - Wikipedia

After her treatment Charlene returned to Australia later that year, resided in Double Bay and took a typing course. She had acquired a collapsible wheelchair whilst overseas and these skills and tools made her more independent; eventually finding work at the Blood Bank in York Street, Sydney. Charlene demonstrated archery to patients at the Royal North Shore Hospital in North Sydney and in December 1951, she was part of the group attempting to form an Australian team to compete against a visiting English wheelchair archery team. 

In 1955 Charlene married Eric Meade, a polio survivor whom she met at the Spastic Centre in Mosman. Against advice from Guttmann that pregnancy would lead to kidney damage, she had two children; her first via cesarean, but her second, a son, was delivered naturally, the first Australian paraplegic woman known to have done so.

As part of her continuing rehabilitation Charlene remained heavily involved with sports in the 1960s and 1970s. She competed at the 1966 National Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Games in Melbourne in archery, swimming and table tennis. While raising her two children, Charlene was swimming competitively in 1968. At the 1970 edition of the Stoke Mandeville Games, she won seven medals. Over her competitive career she won 26 medals on the local, national and international levels.

Charlene with medals - courtesy of hyperleap with thanks 

Charlene later became involved with dog sports; earning the Utility Dog level in obedience trials. 

Charlene Stuart Meade - courtesy of Daily Telegraph with thanks 

Meade was a member of the NSW Society for Crippled Children and was a Board Member of the Royal Rehabilitation Centre Sydney from 1986 to 2007. During this time, she served on various committees and also volunteered with the Australian Red Cross. In 2008 Charlene Meade was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her volunteer services.

Charlene died  on 11 September 2018 and is buried in the Independent area in a large plot with her parents and other family members.

Headstone showing Charlene and her parents - authors own and apologies for poor quality

A truly inspiring woman!

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