Peterborough mum makes call for hydrotherapy services to be re-instated to help daughter born with rare chromosome condition

A Peterborough mum has called for hydrotherapy services in the city to be re-instated after seeing the impact their withdrawal has had on her daughter.

Linda Gale said her daughter, Sarah, relied on hydrotherapy after she was born missing part of her 15th chromosome.

Sarah (36) used both the St George’s Hydrotherapy Pool – which has been ‘mothballed’ by Peterborough City Council, and the pool at Lime Academy in Orton.

The Lime Academy pool was used following the closure of St George’s – but now that scheme has ended, and there are no hydrotherapy services in the city.

Linda said: “Sarah swam at St. Georges for years, then twice a week at Lime Street.

“When Lime Street came to an end we tried The Regional pool in Peterborough, close to Sarah's home, but Sarah could not cope with this pool as it was too busy. We also tried another pool but the journey to that pool was too far and caused Sarah to become very anxious

“So she isn't swimming at all now and this is already having an impact on her physical and mental help.”When Sarah was born she had a bit missing on the 15th chromosome, As a result Sarah has a reduced muscle tone which means her muscles have to work harder than normal people, which can cause her to tire easily and her muscles become tight.

“The warm water of the hydrotherapy pool really helps Sarah to move more freely as the water relaxes her muscles. This even aids her walking for a couple of days after a hydrotherapy session

“Sarah is termed non verbal although she can communicate in her own way.

“I would say swimming is the one place Sarah can be independent, she swims like a fish."

Peterborough City Council said the sessions at Lime Academy had been stopped at the beginning of July as usage had been ‘much lower than expected’ with only around 15 percent of the sessions booked each week.

Hydrotherapy users also hit out after the old St George’s Pool was left seemingly abandoned after it closed.