Polio Place

In 1956, at the age of 10, I was struck down with polio. At the time we were living in Oak Park, Illinois. I was transferred by ambulance from West Suburban to Cook County Hospital in Chicago, where I spent six days almost completely paralyzed. For the first two days, I laid on a gurney in a hallway due to overcrowding. On the third day, I was moved into one of the wards alongside 11 others who had contracted polio. Around day 21, I was released and went home to recover, a process that took about two years.

According to my parents, I was the only one in my ward to make it out alive. The only reason that I am able to write this memoir is that my mother, who was a nurse at that time, had made sure that I received two of the three Salk vaccines shots.

As with many polio survivors, I became an overachiever in attempting to rebuild my body. I started wrestling in junior high and continued through high school. In college, I swam competitively and continued to swim daily during my working years and into retirement.

At age 40, I learned to barefoot on water and proceeded to teach my son. The bottom image is Chris and I on Mark Twain Lake, Perry, Missouri, July 18, 1987.

Almost every year since, when given the opportunity, I go barefooting as a birthday present to myself and as a reminder that I am a SURVIVOR.

I will, as the years begin to rapidly creep up on me, eventually succumb to some additional late effects of polio. I am beginning to sense this now in some of my everyday activities.

This year, being the 30th year, Chris and I decided to attempt to recreate the high five. We traveled from Springfield to Ashland, Missouri, where Lake Paragon is located. On the second attempt, we succeeded. In barefooting, the strongest and most skilled always take the far end of the boom. And so it is that our roles have become reversed as I continue to age with dignity.

All rights reserved. You may not distribute or reprint images or descriptions without the express written consent of the creator.