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MISS COURAGE
EXCLUSIVE Teacher who can't breathe or use her arms& legs refuses to quit job she loves
By Henry Austin

An incurable killer illness has left teacher Julie Genovesa paralysed and unable to breathe - but she REFUSES to quit her job.

Doctors warned her nearly four years ago she could have only 18 months to live.

But brave Julie, 50, has defied the odds to carry on helping her class at a junior school.

And she says the secret is making the kids laugh - and doing a mean impression of Stars Wars' villain Darth Vader.

Julie has deadly motor neurone disease, a condition she shares with world-famous scientist Stephen Hawking.

The wheelchair-bound mother of one can only breathe with a ventilator and has lost all the use in her arms and legs.


But Julie has won plaudits from government inspectors for her work at Buttsbury Junior School in Billericay, Essex.


She said: "I love teaching more than anything.


"It is more than just a job to me - it's the most stimulating thing in the world.


"The last thing I want is to do is sit at home and look out of the window."


She added: "The children are little pickles and I absolutely love them. But I do have one rule - that every day we should laugh, even if it's at me."


Julie, of Basildon, works part-time with the help of a carer and a classroom assistant.


She said: "My brain's not affected so I function as a normal teacher.


"I have good discipline in my class and the children are very considerate.


"But it can be incredibly frustrating because I can't physically mark a book.


"I have to sit with the assistant after school and tell her what to write."


Former City analyst Julie decided to be as positive as possible after she was first diagnosed with the disease.


She and taxi driver hubby Frank told their nine-year-old son Joseph his mum would never be cured.


And despite objections from her doctor and council education chiefs, Julie was determined to teach for as long as she could.


She said: "I had to fight to get back to work. My GP was horrified - he calls me his most stubborn patient.


"But the school were fantastic.


"They moved me into a downstairs classroom with a ramp and they also provided me with a full-time teaching assistant."


She went on: "The children ask such honest questions, like 'How you go to the loo?'


"I always answer them as honestly as possible.


"When I explained I had to wear a breathing mask, a couple of kids said I was really cool because I sounded like Darth Vader."


Courageous Julie added: "I'm not going to spend the rest of my life looking backwards as a disabled person. I intend to be here for as long as possible."


Julie's head teacher Vaughan Collier said: "She is an excellent teacher and a good role model for the children."


And Dr Belinda Cupid, of the Motor Neurone Disease Association said: "Julie's achievement is an inspiration to us all.


"It is a wonderful example of what is possible."


'I only have one rule: We find something to laugh about every day.. even if it's me!'


features@people.co.uk