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![Quote. When I first contracted polio, except for my arms, hands, and neck muscles, I seemed to have paralysis all over my bodyÖ. My taste buds were affected; my eyes refused to focus correctly; my mind wandered; and lung muscles were also stricken. At the end of six weeks, I lifted my head off the pillow and was able to sneeze slightly. Three weeks [later] I managed to turn myself on my side. By this time I was able to carry on a conversation without running out of breath. In December, my feet returned for the most part to a normal condition. End quote. Mrs. V. A. Pahl, 1940s](images/quote_rehab.gif)
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For the majority of patients, the paralysis, breathing difficulties,
and other symptoms of the acute phase of polio were a temporary condition.
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“I had longed to come home but now that I was
there, it wasn’t much fun. Home wasn’t the same if I couldn’t
sleep in my own bedroom or use the bathroom by myself…. I felt
like a stranger in those familiar rooms.”
—Peg Kehret, 1996
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Birthday party for Edna Hindson (left on bed), at Hope
Haven Hospital, Florida, 1946 Courtesy of Edna Hindson and Julie Silver
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Rehabilitation Hospitals |
“Our common experiences of
pain and paralysis, separation from our loved ones, and an unending
struggle to regain the full use of our bodies made us members of an
elite sorority that outsiders could never join. The success of one
member became the success of all.”
—Peg Kehret, 1996 |
Left: Teenagers exercising on beds, Salt Lake City,
Utah, 1949 Courtesy
of Dr. W. H. Groves Latter-Day Saints Hospital
Right: Water therapy at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, 1946 Courtesy of
March of Dimes
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“Mr. Vice-President, Mr.
Speaker, and members of Congress, I hope that you will pardon me for
the unusual posture of sitting down during the presentation of what
I want to say, but I know that you will realize it makes it a lot easier
for me in not having to carry about ten pounds of steel on the bottom
of my legs.”
—President Franklin Roosevelt, March 2, 1945, the opening words
of his last speech to Congress
“[Some] equipment is actually used for muscle
substitution. The orthopedic corset is a back-and-stomach substitute.
It keeps the huge and heavy upper torso and head from grinding down
with all that weight on the relatively frail backbone. Long and short
leg braces are metal bones strapped with leather to substitute for
quadriceps, hamstrings, tibia, and gastrocnemius. Missing muscles are
remade of aluminum and leather.”
—Lorenzo Wilson Milam, 1984 |
Left: Three-year-old Joy Weeber, 1959 Courtesy of
Joy Weeber
Right: Toddler’s corset worn by Joy Weeber, around
1959 Courtesy of Joy Weeber
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“I cried when they took away my wheelchair at
3 but my mother said it only took three walking lessons on crutches and
I was gone…. I ran with all the neighborhood kids on the mountain
and hit anyone who said I was crippled with my crutch.”
—Joy Weeber, 2004
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Left: Double leg braces custom-made for Jean Csaposs
1931
Courtesy of Jean Csaposs
Right: Milwaukee brace, used to support the spine
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“My braces were built. Steel down both legs
from hip to heel outside, from groin to heel inside, running down into
the shoes, bound round the thigh and calf with stiff leather cases. Locks
at the knees but nothing resembling a joint. It was stand stiff-legged
or don’t stand. They weighed, shoes and all, ten pounds….
Then the crutches. If I were to move it would have to be by the power
of my shoulders and my triceps … and the hands grasping the holds
of the crutches.”
—Jim Marugg, 1954
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Post-Polio Syndrome
Polio’s adverse influence continues to be felt by many of the people who
contracted polio decades ago. |
Left: Gini Laurie, a pivotal figure in the independent
living movement and in publicizing the late effects of polio. She founded both
the Toomey
J Gazette, later renamed the Rehabilitation Gazette, and the
Polio Network News. Courtesy of Post-Polio Health International
