Didsbury-Magazine-Jun-Jul-2013

PEOPLE
adell Harper
Life change
The removal of a benign neck tumour in
2009 left gutsy Adell Harper with a left
arm paralysis and permanent
pain. Resembling a stroke,
her symptoms prevented this
self-made, single mum from
performing most hands-on
duties at her own nursery.
She required her daughter’s
help to bathe and
dress and faced
a housebound
future.
Solution
Luckily, decades in business had honed
her survival instincts. As the NHS offered
very little post-operative rehab, Adell
researched, found her own physiotherapist
and regained functionality. She’s adamant
other’s should follow suit and seek out
and work with a physiotherapist who’s
skill is relevant to their disability.
Keen to raise the profile of physiotherapy,
she says: “I presented as a stroke patient
but hadn’t had a stroke. I learned to
unlock every joint and plan every
movement –whether it was to walk, move
68 I JUNE/JULY 2013
my arm or use deodorant. I still do those
exercises daily.”
But even when she’d improved, it still
took a harrowing 30 minutes to extricate
herself from her daughter’s basque she’d
tried on for fun!
Conscientious
Life coaching and career mentoring,
for females in particular, were natural
professional and personal progressions for
Adell. As an employee, she’d risen through
the ranks in beauty care. In marketing,
she’d obtained national TV and broadsheet
press coverage for her nursery bosses. As
a caring employer her painstaking staff
training was geared to providing people
not merely with a job but a career. At
the House of Rompa nursery, Adell’s
teeny charges are introduced to French
and Spanish and, to broaden their minihorizons,
the plight of their unfortunate
African peers and the value of fresh water
are clearly explained to these little ones.
St James’s Club
A regular at St James’s Club’s weekly
Rotary and Trailblazers meetings. Adell’s
encounters with disability motivated her
proposal for Manchester Rotary to sponsor
and mentor Sale’s 15-year-old triathlete
Craig McKenzie. He’s now preparing for
Rio de Janeiro’s Paralympic Games - and
the first Paralympic triathlon too.
Advice
Four years on and still relearning her life,
Adell advises: “If you have a recurrent medical
problem, don’t be fobbed off with a diagnosis
of stress. Push for a second opinion. I had pins
and needles in both hands for months. The
cause was spinal - not stress!” Take heed -
from one who has really overcome.
Words Fay Wertheimer
Photographs Alejandro Fidalgo Garcia
Fact file
Born in Stockport:
1965 Hollins College hairdressing and beauty
therapy
1968 Skin product tester Geigy Pharmaceuticals
1970 Beauty department Harrods; Manager Dickens
& Jones Richmond
1972-86 Owner La Femme Beauty Salon Alderley Edge
- nationwide clientele for salon’s trailblazing
treatments
1983 Alexia born
1986 Kids Unlimited PR and Marketing Wilmslow
1989 The House of Rompa Nursery, Wilmslow -
partnership
1992 Qualified as Further Education teacher -
beauty and mentoring
2009 House of Rompa sole owner
2009 Qualified life coach