Julia Thought She'd Beaten Polio 50 Years Ago.

Now It's
Returned to Haunt Her; ...and It's a Timebomb That Could Affect
Thousands More
Byline: CHLOE LAMBERT
TV PRESENTER Julia Roberts has an enviable toned physique, but when you
learn that as a child she was struck with polio, her fitness is even more
impressive.
The infectious disease attacks the nervous system and can lead to paralysis,
disability and even death, At 14 months old, Julia spent 18 weeks in hospital and
doctors predicted she would be disabled. But her parents refused to accept this.
Incredibly, Julia became a dancer and fitness instructor before going into TV.
'I've never known if I was always destined to be a tough cookie and that's why I
made a good recovery, or if having polio made medetermined,' says Julia, 56, a
QVC shopping channel presenter.
But she has discovered that the disease she thought she'd overcome more than
50 years ago has a devastating sting in its tail -- she's one of the 80 per cent of
patients who, years later, experience a return of the symptoms of muscle loss,
cramps, weakness and fatigue known as post-polio syndrome.
Julia doesn't remember having polio, but knows she was close to death.
'In the summer of 1957 my mother noticed I'd stopped trying to pull myself up
and walk and instead just wanted to sit,' says Julia, who lives with her partner
Chris in Epsom, Surrey, and has two children, Daniel, 26, and Sophie, 25.
She was rushed to hospital and put into isolation. Her parents, six-year-old sister
and three-year-old brother could only look at her through a window on visits.
'To find out how I was, my parents had to read our local paper where there were
lists of patients categorised as critically ill, dangerously ill and seriously ill,' she
says.
'I was on the critically ill list. A fortnight later my father saw my name was gone.
For a terrible moment they thought I hadn't made it, until they saw I'd been
moved to "dangerously ill".' AFTER six weeks in isolation she was moved to a
general ward. The polio affected Julia's left leg -- the muscles had wasted so
much it was shorter than the right.
'I was allowed home on Christmas Eve with my leg in a calliper. The doctors said
I'd always have to wear it,' says Julia.
'But my parents heard about a hospital consultant teaching children who'd had

polio to swim and dance, and signed me up. At home my mother spent hours
each day doing physiotherapy to strengthen my leg muscles.' Gradually, Julia's
leg improved and she started walking without the calliper. By the age of 11, her
left leg was strong enough for her not to need special shoes. She played tennis
and netball, danced and swam.
Today, the only sign she has is a slight limp, and she doesn't wear high heels as
she hasn't got enough control in her ankle to balance in them.
Up to 45,000 people were infected by the poliomyelitis virus during the British
outbreak in the Fifties, many of them children.
In the majority of cases, the virus caused minor flu symptoms or 'abortive' polio -many had it without realising. However, 1 per cent of patients developed paralytic
polio, says Professor Carolyn Young, a neurologist at the Walton Centre in
Liverpool, which has a polio clinic.
'Here, the virus attacks the nervous system rather than just the throat, and the
patient may become paralysed to such a degree they are unable to move or
breathe.
'Before the invention of the iron lung [a machine that uses air pressure to make
the chest rise, so the lungs can fill with air], these children would die.' Thanks to a
vaccine programme in the Sixties, polio has been eradicated, though it remains a
problem in Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. But 80 per cent of survivors later
experience postpolio syndrome, though doctors don't know why.
The symptoms -- pain and weakness, fatigue and muscle loss -- can strike any
time from 15 to 50 years after the initial disease.
'It may not be that it comes back, but that the recovery of the nervous system
against the virus starts to fail as you age,' says Professor Young.
'It's a terrible double whammy. You struggle with this illness and overcome it, then
later in life you may end up back in a wheelchair.' Julia knew nothing about this
cruel after-effect until several years ago when, working for a local news station,
she interviewed a man with the syndrome. 'I remember coming home and
speaking to Chris about it and becoming tearful,' she says. 'The thought of polio
coming back is really frightening.' Then, four years ago she noticed her right leg
was numb.
There is no definitive test for post-polio syndrome: diagnosis is based on
symptoms.
'My GP hasn't confirmed it's post-polio syndrome yet, but I think I'm heading that
way,' says Julia. 'I'm much more tired than I used to be and my left leg is thinner.

If it gets any worse, I'll seek professional advice.' Though there is no cure, there
are techniques for managing symptoms, such as mobility aids, and pacing, a
type of physical therapy that helps with fatigue by reducing the pace of activity.
Up to 120,000 people in Britain are thought to have the condition: 45,000 linked
to the Fifties outbreak, with others affected before and after -- the last reported
case here was 1982. This is as many people as have Parkinson's disease,
explains Ted Hill, chief executive of the British Polio Fellowship.
HE SAYS: 'We're even seeing some people who had the mild abortive form of
polio developing postpolio syndrome with muscle pain and weakness,' he says.
'However, GPs don't recognise post-polio syndrome as well as they could. It's not
taught in medical school because polio has been consigned to the history books.
'As a result, people affected are being told it's old age, so they may not get the
support they need.' A survey by the British Polio Fellowship found 69 per cent of
GPs rated their level of awareness of post-polio syndrome as low; 42 per cent
said they would need to refer a suspected case to a neurologist for diagnosis.
Eighteen months ago Julia was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia, which
typically develops very slowly, and she is taking chemotherapy tablets.
'It's muddied the waters for me as I feel incredibly tired and don't know whether
it's the leukaemia or post-polio syndrome,' she says.
'Sometimes everything feels like a real effort and it takes me much longer to
recover from exercise, so I'm having physiotherapy.' She wants to raise
awareness of post-polio syndrome.
'If people know they've got it, they can manage their lives better. It's sad there's
nothing that can be done about it, and it can be degenerative.
We just don't know what that might mean for the future. I'm trying to take each
day as it comes.
In some respects, I feel lucky: I can still walk, do my job, think and write. I'm a
positive person, and I've always had the mantra: "What doesn't kill us makes us
stronger."'