The Iron Ana: an 80 years old woman becomes the leader of her family thanks to the new wheelchair received through ACCESS program

Mrs. Ana is a sweet old lady with the warmest eyes. She is 80 years old and lived her entire life by some simple principles that only people from rural area still have - family is sacred, the house must be kept in order and the work is always done on time. Unfortunately, in the last years, Mrs. Ana lost her appetite for life because of her illness – she was diagnosed with Parkinson disease and she is unable to walk or move around the house without a wheelchair. Until a couple of months ago she didn’t have a wheelchair, but thanks to the one received through ACCES programme, Mrs. Ana has started a new life and she`s feeling like the family leader that she used to be.

She got married young, had two boys and never regrets her choice. She lost her husband 17 years ago and since then she misses him deeply. Although she was much younger than her husband and the only woman in her family, Mrs. Ana was always an iron hand: "All my life I liked things to be in place. I never tripped on something that was not in place”, she recalls.

And these words are sustained by her son, who is taking care of her every day: "Do you think dad did anything without my mother’s approval? She was always an iron hand, always wanted to know everything. Lately, she hated the fact that she was unable to come and see if I did what she told me, but since she received the wheelchair, she always asks me to take her to see if things are done her way”, her son explains.

The truth is that in the years in which she was immobilised, Mrs. Ana felt her life was falling apart. She was unable to clean herself, to cook or to clean the house. All the time she was sitting in her bed and her optimism dropped drastically. And we are talking about a lady that had a very tough life. Besides Parkinson, our sweet old lady faces additional health caused by an accident in the past.

"On 8 August 1986 I was involved in a bus accident. I laid under the overturned bus for hours, until the crane lifted it off me. I spent ten weeks in hospital and the doctors told me that I would not make it but I did. Popescu, the doctor that operated me, told me that I would feel the effects of this accident when I grow old and he was so right", she says.

Even so, until six years ago, Mrs. Ana managed on her own. But in 2010, she moved in with her son because she couldn’t take care of herself anymore. Her son is 59 years old, divorced and he is her only help – he’s doing the cleaning, cooking and taking her to the bathroom.

After years in a row in which she was isolated from the outside world because she was immobilised, life smiled back to our 80 years old lady. Through the ACCESS Project, Mrs. Ana received a wheelchair according to her needs and since then she has flourished. She regained her self-confidence that she can keep things under control: “I had my son paint the kitchen and the fence and arrange things in the house and barn and in the yard but now I can check up on him. He can’t fool me anymore that he did but he actually didn’t or he didn’t do it right. Now I am the boss again, as I used to be before being immobilised” proudly says the tough lady Ana.

"Oh, it's hard not to work. The period in which I didn’t have the wheelchair was the hardest. Now I’m really happy, I started to do as many things as I can around the house. I work bread dough in my wheelchair, prepare pickles, jam, I can do almost anything”, she continues.

Since the time she received the wheelchair, the old lady can pay visits to her neighbours and receive their visits.

Now, her biggest problem is that she rarely sees her grandson. He left to work abroad and her grandmother misses him every day.

"I have a grandson far, far away… I love him deeply; he is the light of my eyes. I miss him; I have not seen him since fall and don’t know when I’ll see him again”.

Even so, Ana offers a real life lesson for anyone that meets her. The way she learned to fight with her problems and the way she enjoys every day and overcomes every obstacle are just some of the reasons for which, in the next period, World Vision Romania is trying to organise meetings where Ana will teach elders how to overcome the handicap and enjoy life.