“I HAD polio and now I’m living with the late effects of that terrible virus. There’s no denying it. “

I could not move anything except one eyelid; even the muscles controlling my eyeballs went limp and my eyes just rolled around aimlessly. I could not breathe, swallow, talk, or move. I was only eight.

The world will keep on twirling whether you are happy or unhappy. It's up to you to have a good life.

His three months in the hospital included an iron lung, a rocking bed and painful physical therapy. He learned how to stay positive in the face of adversity.

Thomas Fetterman caught polio when he was 8. His various hospital stays included needing an iron lung. Despite his many challenges he always looks for the positive aspects of his experiences.

My parents decided to volunteer our entire family (themselves included), feeling strongly that it was the right thing to do.

His parents would have given anything for their son to have had a vaccine to prevent polio.

I’m remembering my mother; a beautiful, delicate unassuming person who brought me through my initial bout with Polio and the resulting rehabilitation and surgeries. Mothers of Polio survivors are unsung heroes.

“It is not a tragedy to me that I'm living in a wheelchair.” Judy Heumann

Have you ever asked yourself if polio, in a curious way, enriched your life? Unexpected Journey: A Physician’s Life in the Shadow of Polio recounts Dr. Lauro Halstead’s personal quest to answer this question.

By Pamela Sergey

Serving my country . . . and paying it forward. By Donald P. Abrams

Wayne Nichols, Jr. - Serving with Honor

These Philadelphia-area polio survivors continue to suffer from a disease thought to be long gone.

Can’t change bygone days.

But we can dream of what could have been.

Things happen for a reason.

That’s what they seem to say.

Alan was the first actor to portray the role of FDR while personally having the same disability.

I am not sick. I am broken. But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.

By Pamela Sergey

For fear of exposure to the virus, the ambulance would not take Arlene and another little girl to the hospital: they were taken to the hospital in a hearse.

I answer the door and stare. I realize that most of my friends are, shall we say, unique, but this person has silver hair in an elaborate updo, a tutu, and ballet slippers. Also wings! Yep, those transparent fluttery things are definitely wings.

“Joyfully returning each day for new adventures at my easel, I engage my jerking arms and trembling hands.” Sharon (White) Richardson

By Pamela Sergey

According to John T. Margie, US Marine Corp, Retired “It’s the training that makes the difference”.

I just finished reading Dr. Richard Bruno’s book, “The Polio Paradox.” I learned so much about polio that I never knew.

By Laura Vittorioso

Bonnie was only two; one minute she was walking and the next she was not. At age 22 she started a 45-year journey as an International Public Health advisor that would take her around the world.

Living through Polio and Covid-19: Historic Parallels

"I was told as a young child by the physical therapists that I would have to work harder and be better, than those who were not disabled. 'The world doesn’t owe you a living' I was told.”