Let me begin by saying I was struck with Polio, in the mid 1950's, when I was only 2 ½ years old, so I am able to let you know what I went through my entire life. I am 61 years old now and have had a lot of challenges over the years, but have managed to make it this far. I want you to know it was not easy and I would have been thrilled, if I did not have to go through this.
Even though I was challenged, I lived up to the challenge and always found some way to do things, even though it was not the way I would have done them, if I had not been disabled.
We lived on a farm, in North Central Wisconsin. My father moved to North Central Wisconsin, from Ottawa Iowa, with his mother and father, when he was only 4 yrs old.
He grew up on our farm and eventually took it over, from his parents. We weren't poor, but we weren't rich by any means. My parents worked hard to take care of me, my 2 older brothers and my oldest half brother, at the time. When my mother married my father, she had an 8 yr old boy, which she brought into the marriage.
I loved my dad and always wanted to help him on the farm. All I can remember is going into the barn and managing to climb into the haymow of our barn. I am not sure how I got up there, being as little as I was. There was a 4' square trap door, which swung down, allowing them to throw down hay for the cows. My dad rigged the trap door, with it's own ladder, which could be taken off, when they had to close the door, when new hay was blown into the haymow.
When the ladder was hung on the door and you climbed into the haymow, he had boards nailed across 2 rafters, of the balloon roof type barn, which made it easy for an adult to climb up into the haymow. It was easy for an adult or older kid to climb up into the haymow, but I was only 2 ½ yrs old at the time and although I could walk, there really was no way I was going to climb up there, in the same way.
I seem to remember a tall step ladder standing in front of the calf pens and I think that is what I used to get up there. Despite my good intentions, after getting up there, things happened and I did not even get a chance to throw down any hay. There was a pitch fork, with a broken handle, which was just the right size for me and I considered it my fork. The hole, in the floor, where I was going to throw the hay down, was toward the middle of the barn.
I don't know what happened, but perhaps I wasn't watching where I was stepping and since it was a small hole, where straw was thrown down, to bed the cows and the calf pens, it was more difficult to see, plus it was somewhat dark up there, even though it was day. The hole was only about 2' by 3', so I didn't see it right away and managed to fall about 7 ½'– 8', to a bare concrete floor. Luckily the pitchfork stayed up there.
I don't know how long I lay there, until they found me, but I had wandered into the barn on my own, without anyone noticing I was gone. When they found me, I was unconscious and I don't know how long it was, before I awoke. I have no idea, if they rushed me to the Doctor or what happened, since no one ever told me everything that happened that day.
Up to this time, I was walking like any young boy. After I regained consciousness, I didn't walk. All I did was crawl. It was at this time, when we were seeing the tail end of the Polio epidemic and the Polio Vaccine had just been discovered and they were rapidly vaccinating children, to protect them from the ravages of polio. Since we lived in a rural area, of North Central Wisconsin, we were one of the last ones to have access to the newly discovered vaccine.
I don't know just how long it was, but all of a sudden, the muscles, in my hips tightened up and drew my legs up into a sitting position. There was no way, my legs could be straightened out and my parents went into a panic, worrying what was wrong with me.
They tried our local doctor, in Antigo WI, first, but he had no idea what was wrong. They took me to a doctor in a bigger city, Wausau, which is west of Antigo, but no one there knew what was wrong and suggested they take me to a doctor in Madison WI, at the Children's University Hospital. It was there that I was diagnosed with Polio.
The first operation they did, was on my hips. I don't know what they cut, to free my legs, so they could be straightened out, but I was in the hospital for 6 months that first time. Our farm was over 200 miles north of Madison, which was about a 4 hour drive, from our farm. My dad couldn't come to visit very often, because of the long drive and they had the farm to run, cows to milk etc.
I had a cousin, who lived in Madison and was going to college there. He came to see me every day, although I don't remember that far back. At times, my dad would come down to see me and stay for a few days, with my cousin and his wife, so he could visit me more often.
I had a special doctor, Dr Okagaki, who had diagnosed me and did the operations, to begin to repair some of the effects of the Polio. I was eventually fitted with braces and given crutches to use and was now able to walk. During the next several years I had to have multiple surgeries, to help fix some of the affects of Polio. I also had to get new braces every year, because I was growing.
It took time, to learn how to walk with the braces and crutches and when I was old enough to go to kindergarten, they enrolled me in a special school, where I learned how to cope with the braces and crutches. At that school, I was taught how to go upstairs & downstairs, frontwards & backwards, since I was right handed and not all steps had a railing on both sides.
I went to Kindergarten, in Green Bay, WI, which was about 65 miles, from our farm. I remember how my dad would take me there on Sunday night and leave me at an elderly couple's house and I would stay with them during the week, when I was in school. They took care of 2 other disabled kids also. On Friday night, he would come get me and take me home for the weekend. I learned how to cope with my disability, now that I had to walk with braces and crutches.
When you are disabled, you learn unconventional ways to do things, which someone, who is not disabled, take for granted. At that time, living in a rural North Central Wisconsin area, we were one of the last ones to get the benefit of the Polio Vaccine. Even though I already had Polio, I was given the vaccine, when I began school, in 1st grade.
I remember how the health department came to our school and everyone, in the school was given the vaccine, on a sugar cube. Later I remember getting another vaccine, which involved a group of several needles, about ¾” in diameter, which was given on our left shoulder. We received several different vaccines, while attending school, in the early 1960's.
Back then, parents saw what diseases, like Polio, could cause and how crippled up their children could become. They were more than willing to not only spare their children, of the disease, but also to prevent the huge sums of money needed, to treat it, once their child had it.
How many thousands of dollars worth of medical care, would it involve, to treat a child, once they had the disease, just to make the child's life a little easier to deal with. Back then, they saw the tremendous amount of damage these diseases, like Polio, could do and were more than happy to vaccinate their kids, to hopefully spare them of all of this suffering.
Back then, it was not just the parents and the infected child you had to be concerned about, but how it was going to affect the entire family and the community. Parents today did not see any of this first hand, to see what it could do to someone. They didn't see all the people, who died, had to live in an "iron lung", who became quadriplegic, or like me paraplegic.
Click on the web site below, to see what an "iron lung" is and how long a Polio patient had to be in one, to be mechanically assisted, just in the act of breathing, something no one stops to even think about.
Although I have full use of my arms, hands and my brain, I am not able to walk, without braces and crutches. I cannot move my left leg at all, or even wiggle my toes. At least my right leg I can make my leg move a little, if sitting on the edge of a table and am able to wiggle my toes.
When I am in water, swimming, I am able to use my arms and am able to even move my legs. I went swimming at the local CP Center, in Green Bay, and they were able to wheel me in a special wheel chair, down a ramp into a heated pool.
The therapist wrapped a 2 lb. weight around each ankle, led me to the shallow end of the pool, until I could touch bottom. Not using my arms, but just moving my legs, I was able to walk across the pool, while my feet touched bottom. Without the weights on my ankles, my legs tended to rise up, like a frog.
Since Polio had been all but eradicated, some parents, since the 50's don't see any reason to vaccinate their kids, even for Polio. They don't see what they will not only be putting their child through, but the whole family and the community.
How much follow up care, will be needed and how many medical bills will be incurred, to treat their child, if they get the disease? Diseases, such as mumps & measles, may have been eradicated, but it does not mean it's not still out there, somewhere and why take a chance with it?
My 2 older brothers had Measles and Mumps and their experience was like a typical normal childhood disease you go through and survive, with no problems. They came out okay, but do you want to take a chance your child will be the one, which will incur a worst case scenario or maybe even die from that disease? Do you love your children enough to get them vaccinated or would you rather play "Russian Roulette", with their lives?
It's not only children, who can get the Measles or Mumps or any of the other diseases, which there is a vaccine for, but adults can get them too. They are not just a childhood disease. If the parents have not been vaccinated either, they too can get the disease and it may affect them even more than a child.
It has been reported that many of the new Measles outbreaks are with parents, who had not been vaccinated, when they were young. If they get the Measles, how will it affect them and will they pass the virus around to multiple other people, including their own children, they come into contact with, since you are contagious, before you even realize you have them?
Will they unknowingly pass the virus on to their children and then their children are one of the few, who have a very bad experience with it? What would they think, if they caught the Measles, passed them on to their children, then maybe even see their child end up dying from them, all because they didn't believe in vaccinations?
Just because it has been so long, since the vaccine came out and people take it for granted, these diseases are no longer a threat, are they willing to take the chance? Are they willing to risk not only their child's life, but their own life as well, since their own parents never vaccinated them, as a child?
I had Chickenpox, when I was young and although I survived, now I run the risk of getting Shingles, as an adult. I had an accident in April 2012 and because of the high stress I experienced, I actually survived a mild case of the Shingles
I don't understand how schools let children come to school, without being vaccinated. Here in Wisconsin, at the time, it was required that your children had all their required vaccinations, before they are allowed to be enrolled. As far as I know, Wisconsin did not allow parents to opt out back then.
I read here, in Daily KOS, how schools, in Mississippi, require all the children to be vaccinated and do not let parents opt out, if they want their children to go to school. That is the way it should be, but now quacks are scaring parents about the vaccines and many schools are allowing them to opt out of getting the necessary vaccines. Since there are so many kids not getting vaccinated, it has allowed the 1 case of measles, in Disneyland, to spread rapidly across the United States to all these unvaccinated kids and adults.
What I hadn't thought of, but found out through Daily KOS, that many of the kids, who were not vaccinated, when they were young grew up into parents, who were never vaccinated. Now these parents, along with their children, are getting measles and it's spreading all across the United States. When parents get the measles, it is a lot more serious, than if they get them, when they are chldren.
Since different diseases have been pretty much obliterated and people didn't have to worry about them, it seems parents, today, don't realize just how necessary vaccines are. It seems they are more than willing to play “Russian Roulette”, with their own kids, and take a huge chance, by not vaccinating them.
They didn't see all the things that can happen, if their kids get one of the diseases, which they could have gotten a vaccine for. Some of their parents and maybe their grandparents saw everything that the diseases can cause. It's not just a simple childhood disease that all kids get and get over, without a problem. I am sure, when the vaccines came out back then, parents were happy to have their children vaccinated to prevent the awful things, which could happen to them.
Polio was almost obliterated, but because parents figured it wasn't a problem anymore, they stopped getting their kids vaccinated for diseases like polio. They believed the quacks who told them horror stories, which were untrue, if they had them vaccinated, but neglected to tell them the horror stores of what could happen if their child got the disease. It's not a simple childhood disease and many children don't just get over it, many die or are severely disabled. Do parents want to take the chance their child is the one in a million, who would die?
What are their children going to think, when they grow up and manage to survive the disease, but end up with the crippling effects of the disease? What will their children think, when they are grown, knowing they could have been spared all of these problems, if only their parents allowed them to be vaccinated? What will the parents think, when that chance of death happens to be their child?
I survived polio and am very lucky since many have died from it and many ended up in Iron Lungs, because of it. In my case, it was mainly my legs, which were affected. I am a paraplegic and still have use of my arms. I still have a brain and am now able to work over the internet, from my apartment, part time. I am also able to take care of myself yet.
I did not have it easy growing up being disabled, with polio. There were a great number of things I would have liked to do, but couldn't do, because of my disability. I couldn't run and play with the rest of the kids, even though many, when I was in grade school, tried to include me, as much as they could, in things, such as helping me climb the ladder for the slippery slide and slide down. They included me in games such as Captain Says, which I enjoyed.
They also helped me and another disabled girl play softball, letting us bat the ball and even though we were slow, they let us run the bases of the small softball diamond. Then there were the times, when we played marbles and they included me, but since I couldn't squat down and flip the marbles, they let me use my crutch to shoot my large marble at the marbles in the circle, to see how many I could knock out. It made me feel good, to be included, even with my disability.
When I got older and was in high school, things were different and all my class mates pretty much abandoned me. Although they would talk to me they never included me in anything they did. What I wanted was to be included in things, but wasn't.
I got a glimmer of hope, when our English teacher suggested we do the play “The Rocking Horse Winner” and I could play the leading role, of the disabled boy, who would ride his rocking horse wildly and was able to pick out winners in the horse races. Of course that glimmer of hope died a quick death, when they picked a different play and didn't include me in the cast. I was good enough to help create the sets, but not participate in the play.
Parents don't seem to realize how limited their kids would be, even if they survived the disease and didn't die. In the case of Polio, they don't understand what they are putting their child through, if they manage to survive the disease, but are permanently disabled.
Although I was quite strong and could do a lot of things, as I got older, I began to lose my strength and have now been experiencing Post Polio Syndrome, where I keep getting weaker and can no longer walk, even with the braces and crutches and ended up in a wheelchair.
Maybe parents don't care if any other kids get sick, because they are idiots and didn't vaccinate their children. How about the mega church which pushed it's congregation to not vaccinate their children and now one person came to their church, who had the measles and it already spread to several other children. That one person could have easily been one of the congregation's children, who went to Disneyland or came in contact, with someone who did. Now they can see just how fast Measles is spreading across the United States all because of their idiocy.
From what I understand, measles is highly contagious, which is air born and can spread quickly to others before the first person even realizes they are sick. Maybe a parent don't care enough about their own children, but look at how many other children they put at risk. Since there are so many children & even parents, who didn't get the vaccine, it won't take long to spread to many of them, but unfortunately other children who should be vaccinated can't get the vaccine, because of their weak immune systems due to cancer treatment or other reasons.
Of course some parents don't care, after all kids die every day. Do they realize that maybe their kid will be one of those who will die, because of their parent's foolishness. What will these parents think, if their kid dies or is seriously hurt by the disease, knowing they could have prevented it?