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THE CHINA - MAIL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1951.
3.
!
*
A NEW LIFE FOR LINDA
·A Youthful Arthritis Sufforer Has Won
Her Fight Against World's No. I Disease
A YEAR AGO, Linda was still in hospital, playing with simple toys that would exercise her swollen fingers.
THIS
is the story of Lindn Fox, one 74 millon persons in the United States suffering from some form of rheumatic disease.
fifth Recently, two
before her
birthday, montha Linda took her first steps. Uncertain, halting and as wobbly as a 13-month-old child, she walked into the arms of her father, n New York City fireman. Linda had passed another milestone in her slow, painful, but stendy climb to health since becoming ill with rheumatoid arthritis soon after she was born.
Her parents noticed, when she was only a few weeks old, that her third and fourth Angers stuck out, They falled to bend with the other fingers when she tried to close her fist. Swellings developed in the middle joints of all her Angers. Not until a year later, however, was she brought into a metropolitan hospital in which there is one of only 140 arthritis clinics in America. Her hands, wrists and knees had swelled and stiffened so that she could not be touched without crying. She had an advanced case of the world's most prevalent disease.
Lindia spent three years in the hospital. She was started on simple play exercises in bed. Later, occupational therapy employing assisted play and constructive exercise helped to strengthen her muscles, giving her a new interest in living
and helping her to forget her sufferings. She was carried to the therapeutic poal for the underwater exercises so helpful for crippled bodles,
By the time she was four, Linda was able to go home, where her parents contrived different kinds of toys and games to exercise her fingers and wrists. Although Linda still returns to the hospital once a week for special treatment, she Is beating the disease that knows no age.
There is an object lesson in the story of Linda. It emphasises the need for early treatment. Sixty to 70 percent of all arthritis patients can be restored to useful lives by the same "conservative" treatment that helped Linda, according to the Arthrills and Rheumatism Foundation.
Slowly erasing the crippling effects of arthritis, Unda now visits hospital once a week for treatment, spending most of time in pool, Hands are nearly normal, legt are regaining strength;
WORKING with a drill exercises Linda's hands, also causes elbows and shoulders to operate in co-ordinated movements,
THERAPY and a child's interest in making things are combined as Linda bullds a doll's chest of drawers. Hammering increases strength and improves circulation.
SAWING a piece of soft wood, Linda needs to grasp the handle and the other end: of the saw. The continuous push-and-pull motion helps build up her arm muscles...
WEAVING-on ́ loom is good for the joints of Linda's font,: 'legs and hips. It also makes her move her hands, stretch legs.
AFTER MONTHS of treatment at home, joyous Linda: Fox: taken, her first faltering steps, alone straight into the walling arms of her proud father. The little girl'now takes walking Içasons dail