In this publication Ann Armstrong documented and reflected upon her feelings and experience of contracting respiratory polio, being hospitalised and separated from her family. Her account is quite detailed with many small daily incidents described. It builds a picture of the early NHS and of prevailing attitudes which are specific to that time, but also touches on themes which have broad relevance today. Iron lungs are generally a thing of the past but her fight to be treated as a woman, as a mother and a human being are timeless. We hear how she struggled with the sense of her body being invaded by medical staff, how she had to come to terms with dependency and having everything done for her, and about the pressures on her family and her relationships.
Below is a contemporaneous review of Breath of Life sourced from Cheshire Smile The Quarterly Magazine of the Leonard Cheshire Foundation
BREATH OF LIFE by Ann Armstrong.
In October 1955, Ann Armstrong contracted severe respiratory poliomyelitis in what was virtually the last British outbreak before the discovery of polio vaccine. Family life as she knew it, with her husband Ken and their two small sons, was finished. She was—and is—powerless to move her limbs or breathe without mechanical aid. In this moving account written by Ann Armstrong herself, she relates her experiences——from the discovery of her paralysing illness to the trauma of incarceration in an iron lung and move to long-stay rehabilitation hospital where the battle became one against “institutionalisation’’. Gradually Ann realised that her progress was minimal, that she was being used as guinea pig and that, as far as the authorities were concerned, she was sentenced to hospitalisation for the rest of her life. She writes of the paradox between the love and dedication of the medical team and the suffering caused to her by NHS cuts and inexperienced staff. With the help of her husband she fought strenuously for her release. It came in August 1958. Ann was only the second person in the UK to be allowed to live at home while confined to an iron lung. Doctors assessed her expectation of life at three months. Twenty-seven years later she has proved them wrong. She has raised family and runs her home from her bed, she has studied journalism and contributes regularly to journals and newspapers. In 1968 Ann Armstrong was awarded an MBE for journalism. She enjoys as full life as she can, within the bounds dictated by her disability. This is story of survival and love, told without self-pity, but with humour and spirit. It is also compassionate plea for all physically disabled people to be accepted as part of the community.
BREATH OF LIFE by Ann Armstrong An Ariel Paperback.
Cheshire Smile The Quarterly Magazine of the Leonard Cheshire Foundation
Issue No. 114 JUNE 1986
Page 36