GILLY Pierce is one of the ‘women of courage’ who will be addressing women at a fundraising morning hosted by the Union of Jewish Women at Durban Jewish Club on Wednesday, 15 March.
Despite suffering from a debilitating disease, Gilly says she has been extremely blessed in her life, and laughingly says that God must have been in a good mood when she was born because throughout her life, she has always met the right people at the right time, in the right places and for the right reasons.
Gilly’s father was a civil engineering consultant and travelled often to exotic destinations like Japan, Italy and San Francisco, and would come home with literature about the countries he had visited.
“I was taught from an early age that there was a big wide world out there, although it wasn’t cheap to travel!” she said.
Gilly joined the travel industry, working at the travel desk, and started off her adventures travelling to Austria and cruising the Greek Isles. She discovered for herself that travel was everything she imagined.
“I worked at Rennies Travel as a wholesale tour operator which was the best job! They had a policy to send their new employees on tours as tour leaders and I took tours to the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. I took every opportunity that came my way and have travelled so well and done so much,” she said.
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While Gilly was working she met the ‘man of her dreams’ in 1979 and in 1982 he was offered a job in Margate. The couple got engaged and moved to a farm in the area.
“I love animals and had been horse riding since I was seven. I used to ride every day before work at the travel office in Margate, and I still managed to travel,” she said.
Gilly’s life as she knew it started to fall apart shortly thereafter. She went shopping one day and while she was carrying her parcels to the car, she fell for no reason. Later, while she was at the horse stables on her farm, the phone ran inside and she ran to answer it.
“I have run all my life, being an avid tennis and badminton player, but as I was running I heard this little voice inside my head saying I wasn’t running very well to answer the phone! I never gave it a second thought until later that year,” she said.
In November of that year, her horses got their horse flu injections and she wasn’t able to ride for three weeks afterwards. To keep fit during this time, she decided to jog instead.
“The first day I stumbled, which made no sense. I kept stumbling around and I eventually sat down next to one of the horses who looked at me as if to say ‘what are you doing?’ I sat next to him, I can’t say for how long, and finally realised something was not right with me and I needed to find out what it was,” she said..
Four years of tests later, Gilly was eventually diagnosed in 1991 with multiple sclerosis (MS). She could do little about the physical challenges her disease presented, but was determined not to let her disease affect her mentally. Her form of MS attacked her muscles, starting at her feet, which meant that she was able to continue working until 1999. She started using a stick to aid her mobility when she was in her 30s, and eventually ended up in a wheelchair.
“I was so sure the day would never come that I wouldn’t be able to sign my own name, but it came, and so did the day where I could no longer feed myself,” she said.
Gilly’s brother and cousin subsequently advised that she needed to go into proper care as she required 24-hour a day help, and before long she moved to Acacia Care in Botha’s Hill, where she met Trish Adams who runs the home.
“To be honest, for three years I just sat and enjoyed my surroundings. In 2012 I decided I would like to do something myself to contribute to my care.”
“Trish is an artist and said she would teach my to paint with my mouth. I laughed at her when she said this, as I had never painted before, but she helped me.”
“She downloaded tutorials and after a while I started teaching myself. No one is more shocked than I am that I could actually paint! I progressed to canvas and just loved it!” she said.
Gilly has been painting for three years. She paints an original which is then scanned and the image printed on greeting cards and bookmarks which she sells at local markets to help raise money to contribute towards her care. She also gives talks at schools, clubs, Women’s Institute meetings and at churches on her life and her art.
“No one plans for something like this (MS). You have to change your way of thinking. I was brought up tough, and my mom always said we had to accept our lot in life, I have made the most of what I got!” she said.
Join Gilly as well as other inspirational speakers who will share their courageous stories at the Durban Jewish Club from 9am to 12.30pm. Tickets are R180 which includes tea/coffee and refreshments. Contact 031 335 4457 or email: ujwdbn@djc.co.za.
