ALICE PETERSON'S STORY

‘I first visited the Pinder Centre when I was nineteen. I had Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and was in terrible pain. The diagnosis at eighteen had come as an awful shock: I had been an active teenager, with a passion for tennis, and had just been awarded a tennis scholarship in the USA.  Overnight, my future and my family’s, was turned upside down. Instead of leading the carefree life of a teenager, I was spending weeks in hospital on ‘bedrest’ to try and get the pain under control. My Rheumatologist told my parents very early on that I had the most aggressive form of RA and that in five years time I would be in a wheelchair. So, when I arrived at the Pinder Centre, I was not only in a lot of pain, but grieving for my past, and very frightened of my future. 

I didn’t know much about hydrotherapy at nineteen, nor did I have any concept of how the Pinder Centre was going to become a lifeline for me. I remember vividly stepping into the warm water for the first time. For half an hour the pain in every single joint melted away. I didn’t want to come out! The physiotherapists were so gentle and kind, yet also making sure I was doing the exercises properly in the water, to give me the best possible chance of keeping my mobility.

I am now 36 and have been to the Pinder Centre for nearly half my life. Over the past seventeen years I have received the most wonderful treatment and care from the physiotherapists, nurses and general staff. Alongside my hydrotherapy sessions, I see Tessa Campbell, who is a physiotherapist, specializing in Aromatherapy. She has helped me recover from every single joint replacement operation (of which there have been many!) With deep tissue massage, healing oils and exercise, she gets me back on to my feet again. Without her, I would have been lost.

The Pinder Centre is one of the most special places I know, and over the past years I have witnessed so many other patients, of all ages, and with every kind of condition, value the centre as I do. We go there primarily to manage and improve our mobility, but we get so much more out of the experience. It is a healing and restorative environment, where we meet others and make friends. It is also an invaluable place for the carers. My mother, who used to chauffeur me to the Pinder Centre, enjoyed the outing as much as I did. When my pain was at its worst it gave us a focus to the day.

I feel incredibly lucky to have the Pinder Centre only fifteen minutes away from my parent’s home. Hidden in the Itchen Valley and surrounded by the beautiful grounds of Avington Park, it is a haven. Thank you to everyone at the Pinder Centre for all the support you have given over the past seventeen years, and which you continue to give.’

Alice Peterson

October 2010