Polio

In 1930, when my mother (1922-2007) was 8 years old, she went to bed feverish, then fell into a coma. When she finally awoke, her left shoulder and upper arm were paralyzed. She was infected with poliomyelitis.

Though her parents found her the best medical care, including extended stays at Georgia’s Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, my mother never regained use of her arm.

She lived with paralysis for 77 years.

Even so, she considered herself lucky. Many of her young friends from Warm Springs had afflictions that were much worse. She could hardly speak about the life-saving horrors of the iron lungs to which some of them were confined.

Shortly after being transferred to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, I had a “visitation” from Mom. She let me know, and in no uncertain terms, that I had better not start feeling sorry for myself. Others had suffered through things much worse and for much longer. (No names were mentioned.)

And anyhow, I was going to recover.