 McConnell battled with health problems throughout her life , after contracting rheumatic fever at the age of 20 which subsequently progressed to rheumatic heart disease . In 1944 she contracted appendicitis which required an emergency appendectomy ; she developed deep vein thrombosis in her right leg after the surgery and her leg was subsequently amputated above the knee . She was given a prosthetic leg which she named " Matilda " but later became wheelchair @-@ bound . 
