June Opie travelled to London on her OE as a young woman and was almost immediately struck down with poliomyelitis (polio), a virus which causes paralysis and muscle wasting. She was encased in an iron lung to help her breathe, and spent the next two years in hospital.
She chronicled her battle with the disease in her book, Over my dead body, which became a best-seller in 1957. Opie went on to become a successful writer and broadcaster, and promoted childhood immunisation against diseases such as polio.
She is shown here on her tricycle, the first vehicle she owned, which she used to commute to her job in Rotorua.
Using this item
Reed Publishing, New Zealand
Reference:
June Opie, Over my dead body: forty years on, Wellington: Reed Publishing (NZ), 1996
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