# Ever known anyone who'd had polio? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317 "2010-06-24T03:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/41 "2010-06-24T15:18:16Z")
My grandfather. Born in 1894, he got it in his late twenties. Nearly killed him, but he survived with nothing more then a limp, for which he had to use a walking cane. He died aged 80, in 1974. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/42 "2010-06-24T16:33:24Z")
The guy who taught me history A level had it as a kid, but I don’t know at what age or where he contracted it. I guess he’d be around fifty, maybe fifty-five, by now. ---
**Author:** ![Jimson\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@Jimson\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimson_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/43 "2010-06-24T17:37:23Z")
My brother had it has a child. It left him with a smaller right leg than left. He walks with a considerable limp. He was born in Viet Nam and adopted at age 5. He’s 41 now. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/44 "2010-06-24T17:42:17Z")
My pediatrician when I was a kid had polio. He walked with a cane. ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/45 "2010-06-24T17:42:30Z")
My father-in-law just turned 67. He had it as a kid, but had no real long-term effect. He has a bad back, but what 6’2" 270 lb old guy doesn’t? He had a 40 year career as a state trooper and police chief and still works full time as a private investigator. ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/46 "2010-06-24T17:43:06Z")
When I was a kid there was an older lady at church who walked with a crutch because of polio. This was in the 80s and I’d guess she was in her 50s then. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/47 "2010-06-24T17:48:22Z")
I’m 41. One of my mom’s cousins (she must be in her late 60s now) had polio as a child. One of her legs is atrophied, and she walks with a limp. Nobody else that I know of. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/48 "2010-06-24T18:48:57Z")
I worked with a guy who had it as a child. He used a chair, and is now deceased due to related health issues. Hell of a bridge player. I’m 54. He was 61 when he died, about twenty years ago. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/49 "2010-06-24T18:54:49Z")
1. My grandmother had it as a kid. She had tiny feet and her legs were slightly bowed but otherwise she was in good health - she played tennis every day up until the week she died aged 82. Not bad for someone who had smoked 40 cigarettes a day from the age of eleven. She was from the Caribbean and also contracted malaria around the same age, which recurred every few years for the rest of her life. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/50 "2010-06-24T19:29:13Z")
I’m 32. I went to college with a guy who had had it – he was an exchange student from Rwanda, and it left his leg so twisted up he had to walk with a pole. He was the same age I am. It really makes you think about what you take for granted, you know? Also one of my professors, had gotten polio as an adult – the very year the Salk vaccine came out, actually. Apparently, they were only giving it to children at first. She used a walker. Another interesting factoid: the school nurse at my high school had worked with Dr. Salk back when he developed and distibuted the vaccine. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/51 "2010-06-24T19:54:26Z")
I’m 32; my middle school’s Vice Principal walked with a serious limp (one leg was shorter than the other). I seem to recall that, although he was short, pudgy and bald, he (re?)married the hot mother of two of the hottest girls in school. Go Mr. M! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/52 "2010-06-24T20:25:29Z")
I’m 73 and I’ve known quite a few people who had it. There was a friend of my uncle’s who became a doctor. He walked with pronounced limp, but no brace or cane. The mother of a good friend, who walked with a small limp. She had been advised not to have children but had two, both delivered vaginally (the doctors were afraid she wouldn’t be able to push). A HS classmate of mine caught it in 1962 eight years after I actually knew him, well after the vaccines were available. He had been a jazz percussionist and could not continue, so he became a classical conductor and is now the director of the Oregon Symphony. He guest conducted here in Montreal and went painfully up on the podium, using crutches and braces, and conducted from a seated position. Some I knew in college (but he was in med school) got it around 1955. He finished med school in a wheelchair and went into nuclear medicine. The mother of a student in my children’s elementary school caught it age 12 and has spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair. And to answer another post, in my day, handicapped children went to separate schools. There was no integration. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/53 "2010-06-24T20:36:39Z")
I’m 58 and I can remember several people who had it, most notably the sister of a friend of mine. My sisters are in their 60’s and can name even more. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/54 "2010-06-24T21:08:35Z")
I’m 23 and don’t know anyone who has had polio. I was also born long after they stopped giving the vaccine. However, I have a friend that’s my age but from Nicaragua where they still gave the vaccines - the scar on her arm gives me the heebie-jeebies. That’s one hell of a needle. But knowing about polio, I’d rather get jabbed with the vaccine a bajillion times. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/55 "2010-06-24T21:18:05Z")
I had a relative who had it as a child in the 19-teens. It left him with a limp. He died in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/56 "2010-06-24T21:22:50Z")
My grandfather had polio as a child. He walked with a brace on one leg. I’ve seen home movies of him walking three blocks to church with my grandmother’s help. As he got older, this became out of the question–I never saw him walk more than 40 yards or so, leaning against a building the entire time. Man, I haven’t thought about this in years. He didn’t get a cane until his 60s (and he died within a year or so after). He’d park his ancient truck RIGHT NEXT to our family store, step out, steady himself against the building, and make his way inside, one hand on the exterior wall the whole time. Once in the door, he’d steady himself against the counters and other fixtures, switching hands the whole time. My God, Panache, thank you for bringing that image back for me. ETA: I’m 40. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/57 "2010-06-24T22:00:59Z")
I’m 68. In the little Ohio town where I grew up there were regularly two or three cases every year. Some mild, some fatal. Summer seemed to be the bad time. Some parents were nearly hysterical with anxiety. The release of the Salk and Sabin vaccines worked a transformation of life for all of us. There were few things sadder than seeing a vigorous and active youth turned over night into an invalid. It was pretty awful. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/58 "2010-06-25T02:57:28Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > I’m 23 and don’t know anyone who has had polio. I was also born long after they stopped giving the vaccine. However, I have a friend that’s my age but from Nicaragua where they still gave the vaccines - the scar on her arm gives me the heebie-jeebies. That’s one hell of a needle. But knowing about polio, I’d rather get jabbed with the vaccine a bajillion times. Where have they stopped giving polio vaccines? Are you perhaps thinking of the smallpox vaccine? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/59 "2010-06-25T03:27:20Z")
I’m 65, and a friend’s sister who’s two years older had it. She’d be 67 now. She wore leg braces and walked with one crutch, one of those metal ones that fit on your arm – not the kind that goes under the shoulder. She just got married for the first time a few years ago. 🙂 She had trouble with the stairs at school – there was no handicapped access in those days – but other than that, she was just like any other student, except that everyone knew who her name. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317/60 "2010-06-25T03:45:20Z")
I’m 34, and my great-uncle Alfred got it as a child and walked with a limp and wore braces on both legs. I was very young when he died, and he was likely in his mid-70’s. My grandfather’s family were Canadian immigrants to the US, so I presume Alfred contracted it before they came here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-known-anyone-whod-had-polio/544317.md?page=4)