Elizabeth Johnstone will be ordained on Saturday, February 25 at 4pm in the Seymour Baptist Church.
The service will bring closure to a story that began 12 years ago.
In 2012, Elizabeth was three weeks away from being ordained in NSW at Nelson Bay Baptist Church.
“However, I became disabled. My legs were paralysed and I had limited use of my arms. I couldn’t go to my ordination,” Elizabeth said.
The next nine years were like a rollercoaster, with ambulance rides, morphine and specialist doctors.
After several months she was diagnosed with different conditions, until eventually a neurologist diagnosed Elizabeth with multiple sclerosis.
“I had just accepted that I was permanently disabled, on and off between a wheelchair and walkers, so we never thought I would work again,” she said.
Weeks before Elizabeth’s planned ordination, in February 2011, Elizabeth had surgery to insert a pelvic mesh implant.
She was assured it was a minor 15-minute procedure to insert what was described to Elizabeth as a ‘tape’.
“I had symptoms immediately and became too sick to work in February 2012,” Elizabeth said.
Despite feeling as though her illness was somehow connected to the 2011 surgery, no medical professional could connect the dots to understand her illness.
“I saw a news item on a government enquiry on pelvic mesh implants and thought ‘What’s that?’ because it had never been described to me like that,” Elizabeth said.
The Johnstone’s were contacted by a lawyer in 2019 who suggested that Elizabeth might be experiencing an allergic reaction to the pelvic mesh implant.
A specialist confirmed the suspicion.
Elizabeth was one of the 11,350 women who suffered the catastrophic side effects from the implant procedure.
Pelvic mesh implants are designed to create a localised autoimmune response in the tissues where they are placed, but for some, the autoimmune reaction is not localised, it spreads throughout the body.
For many, severe medical problems ensued the procedure, and, like Elizabeth, many women became unable to work.
The Johnstones decided to pay for a five-hour operation to remove the mesh, costing approximately $20,000.
Despite the hefty price tag, Elizabeth is grateful for the operation.
“Those surgeons gave me my life back.” Elizabeth said.
“I went into hospital in a wheelchair to get the pelvic implant removed and I walked out.”
Relived to have her life back, Elizabeth continued forward.
Concurrently, the class action that originally illuminated the mesh implant as the source of her ill health waged on through the courts.
Shine Lawyers reached a $300 million settlement in September last year over the failed mesh products by Johnson & Johnson Medical and another company, Ethicon.
However, Shine Lawyers is proposing to take up to $99.5 million from the payout in costs.
Further, Medicare and Centrelink payments that the women received during the time they were injured also need to be withdrawn from the settlement pay out, which may total up to another $100 million.
It is estimated that after these costs there may be just over $100 million left to be divided between the 11,000 women.
The decade-long class action has raised questions around the adequacy of the class action compensation, after other costs have been withdrawn.
The Federal Court is to settle the decade legal battle today (February 16).
“It is a good news story, but there is that background in terms of the courts at the moment,” Elizabeth said.
Despite this, the Johnstones are thrilled to begin to get back to life as they knew it before the implant back in 2011.
In November 2021, Elizabeth’s husband Geoffrey returned to ministry as pastor of the Seymour Baptist Church.
“I asked the leadership team to recognise the hard work Elizabeth accomplished to become a pastor,” Geoffrey said.
“They were only too pleased to sponsor her application for ordination.”
Elizabeth said her ordination was undoubtedly a positive end to this chapter of her life.
“Becoming officially ordained as a minister of the church is a huge step for me,” she said.
“I love that I can now actually do what I studied and trained for all those years ago.
“My husband also pastors the Baptist Church in Alexandra and last Sunday they also passed me in the associate pastor in Alexander.”
Next Saturday, February 25, the two churches will combine for the ordination service, which will be attended by family and friends.
Members of the public are welcome to attend.