St Andrew's

Spotlight - "From Buenos Aires to St Andrew's" the story of Sharon Law

Sharon was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in !959. Her mother Phyllis was a housewife and her father Douglas (from New Zealand) a trained accountant working for and Insurance broker.

Her mother's first husband was an Englishman in the army. They lived in New Dehli for a while where Sharon's half sister Elizabeth was born. Elizabeth is 7 years older than Sharon. They were divorced and Phyllis married Douglas in Havana, Cuba, because of the Catholic regulations at that time. Sharon also has a brother, John. All the children grew up in Buenos Aires.

Sharon was a top student in her primary school and in her secondary school she excelled at Art. Unfortunately at the age of 11 Sharon was diagnosed with epilepsy and her mother died all in the same year. Even though Douglas loved his children, he could not cope with them. Sharon and her sister were sent to boarding school but her brother flatly refused to go and stayed with his father.

Fortunately, Sharon's headmistress, Gladys Plaice, was sympathetic to Sharon's situation. Sharon said, “I would have gone crazy if it wasn't for Gladys”. The school was in Cordoba Hills, about a 12 hour coach journey from Buenos Aires. In the summer holidays (3 months) Sharon went to summer camp. She loved horse riding and tennis. Although she tried to lead a normal life, the fits and convulsions made it difficult. On one occasion in summer camp, she was swimming in a lake and had a convulsion and nearly drowned. The guardian at the camp had to pull her out by her hair, he saved her life.

The Spanish/English boarding school was catholic and morning prayers were compulsory. Sharon remembers, “We had to line up for parade and the Mother Superior would walk down the line and tell us off if even a hair was out of place. It was very strict.” Sharon improved her English and acquired the skill of flower arranging and gardening. (She loves gardening to this day and has arranged the flowers at St Andrew's for over 6 years.) When Sharon had a fit in school, she was ordered to stay in bed. They did not fully understand the illness.

At the age of 17 Sharon came back home to Buenos Aires. She wanted be an interior designer but her Father wanted her to be a secretary 'a proper job'. Having no choice in the matter, she studied to be a bilingual secretary and her first job was for a Swedish Shipping Company.

Sharon was 20 when her father died of a heart attack. He did leave the children provision and they all left Argentina. John went to Canada, Sharon and Elizabeth went to England.

Sharon found England to be a complete culture shock, Buenos Aires did not have the diversity that England had. She stayed in Sutton with her Godmother Joan who looked after her through the next very trying years.

It was the 80's and although Sharon wanted to live a normal life, she couldn't. Her health deteriorated and sought treatment at the hospital in St Helier. Joan had to come home at lunch times to check on Sharon. It was soon decided that Sharon should move to London where better treatment could be found. She was housed in Fulham and attended The National hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queens Square. Sharon was given preventive treatment to control the fits and convulsions. Sharon says, “from 1985 to 2000 was the most miserable time for me, I almost died on more that one occasion.” On one of these occasions Sharon was going to visit her Godmother who was ill in St Thomas' hospital. She had a fit. The next day she woke up in a hospital bed not realising what had happened. She noticed that her clothes, jewellery and bag were missing. Sharon was sent home in an ambulance wrapped in a blanket. All her processions had been stolen as she lay unconscious on a bed in the corridor of the hospital. She complained to the trust but received very little compensation.

On another occasion she was drying her hair at home and had a fit. She tangled herself around the hair dryer cord, tripped, fell to the floor and passed out. Her Godmother was supposed to see her that day and kept ringing the flat. After three days, she alerted her sister who found her on the floor. She was rushed to Charring Cross hospital. The doctor said that she would never recover the feeling in her left arm and right leg. Sharon was not about to give up, especially having come this far in her life. She sought a second opinion from a private osteopath who assured her that she could walk again. It took her 10 years to recover. With treatment and sheer determination, Sharon works, lives and leads a near normal life.

Sharon came to St Andrew's as a regular worshipper when Father David was the priest. She loved the church and got involved with flower arranging etc. She mucks in when and where she can and is currently a welcomer and a volunteer at the St Andrew's project for the homeless. She says, “I could not have gone through this journey without St Andrew's, all the members have been so supportive”.