PEOPLE STORIES

Frog breathing: a substitute (voluntary) method of breathing. The experience of Gary.

Name: Gary McPherson.

City: Edmonton

Province: Alberta

Country: Canada
Place of Birth: Edson, Alberta

Date of Birth: June 28^th, 1946
Marital Status: Married with two children

Received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree on November 16^th, 1995 from the University of Alberta Senate

Contracted Polio: October 2^nd, 1955

 

I was nine years of age when I entered the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton. I was in a coma for the next ten days and was kept alive by mechanical ventilation in the form of an iron lung. On October 15^th, 1955, I was transferred to the University of Alberta Hospital. I was then transferred in 1973 to the Aberhart Hospital (later renamed as a Center), a satellite facility of the University Hospital.

In 1988 I married a BscN nursing graduate and eventually moved into the community after being discharged from the Aberhart Centre on October 19^th, 1989.

I use a manual reclining wheelchair for mobility. I rely almost exclusively on glossopharyngeal (frog breathing) for ventilation during the day when I am not using my ventilator. I use a custom-made mouthpiece and positive pressure ventilation at night.

My career has included:

• Three years as President of the local Paralympic Sports Association
• Four years as the Executive Director of the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association
• Eight years as General Manager of the Alberta Northern Lights Wheelchair Basketball Association
• Eighteen months as Assistant Director of the Research and Training Centre for the Physically Disabled at the University of Alberta
• Six years as President of the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association
• Ten years as Chairman of the Alberta Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities
• Currently employed as the Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (CCSE) in the Faculty of Business at the University of Alberta (website: www.bus.ualberta.ca/ccse/)