Thanks InterestedObserver for a fascinating and enlightening post. That’s the kind of thing that explains why I read this board so often.
Many people are unaware of the reason FDR’s portrait is on the dime (10-cent piece). Roosevelt, a polio survivor himself, founded the March of Dimes in 1938, in an effort to fund research and care for the disease’s sufferers. Every American was asked to donate 10 cents (or more) toward this effort. In the aftermath of Roosevelt’s death, the dime was redesigned, featuring his portrait.
My grandmother, who is deceased but would be in her late 80s now, had polio as a young adult. She wore a leg brace for the rest of her life. She also had severe asthma, which I think was brought on by the polio, which caused her to have an enlarged heart. She died of an accident that came about while she was having a stroke.
I’m 57 but that isn’t relevant to my knowledge. The last polio case I personally knew (I last talked to him (he moved) in 2007) was a man who developed adult polio from the live polio vaccine. He was exposed to the live vaccine in the 50’s and developed polio from that in the early 1990s. I don’t know how they determined his disease came from the vaccine but that is what his doctors told him. The striking thing about his case is the length of time between exposure to symtoms. He said that for those people who do contract the disease in this manner it is not unusual to have decades between exposure and symtoms. His breathing ability wasn’t damaged, but he could barely walk. Before the symtoms started he was a long-distance runner. 
very nice man. member of Rotary. When we were painting a house for an elderly couple as a service project he was out there in his motorized wheelchair with a brush helping out.
I remember him saying he was exposed in the 50’s but that may not be true. Certainly he was exposed as a young man and it took decades for symtoms to appear.
Well damn. Ignorance fought! Thanks 
My Grandpa had polio as a kid/young man. My Mom was telling me last night that he nearly died from it, and in fact, they laid him out for dead, until someone noticed that he was still breathing!! He eventually recovered, but walked with a limp, because one leg was shorter than the other. I am 31.
I a number of ladies that had polio. One was an attractive redhead with a very lame left leg.She did not use a stick or legbrace but her leg bent inwards at the knee as she limped along.She walked with surprising speed,her hips swaying from side to side as her weight came on her lame leg. Another lady had a very thin right leg and walked with a moderate limp.Surprizingly,she wore short skirts and sheer tights as if she wished to show her deformed leg to all! A third lady had a short right leg and wore a shoe which was built-up 6 inches.She walked with a severe limp due to the effort of lifting such a large shoe.Has anyone else known a lady with a built-up shoe?
I think you’re confusing cause and effect.
(And yes, even zombies get polio.)
My middle school band teacher had polio as a kid. It left her crippled. I never asked her about it though, since she was mean as a snake and would run your foot over if you didn’t get out of her way fast enough. Since she had to weigh over 300lbs, that hurt like hell.
I’m 51. My oldest maternal uncle – born in 1918 – had it as a child. It left him able to walk, but with rather severe tremors in both hands. He had a lot of trouble with anything needing fine motor skills. He could sign his name, but if he had to write something longer, he had to prop his writing arm to keep it from flailing.
My mother’s family always called it “infantile paralysis”, not polio.
I’m 50. When I was a single digit kid, the neighbor lady across the street was a polio survivor. She spent her days in a rocking bed by a picture window, and slept at night in an iron lung. She’s the only one I know that had polio; given the prevalence of the virus before vaccination and the roughly 1 in 10 chance of developing a complication, I’m sure I really know a larger number than one.
My dad, born in '39, had polio bad when he was 7 or 8. Spent a couple of days in an iron lung at Duke Hospital. It particularly affected his left side and he had to wear a brace for years. This is a double hit since he’s left handed. It also rendered him 4-F for the draft which removed any chance of going to Korea when he was a young man. I never realized just how bad it affected him until I was college age and he pointed out that I had never seen him raise his left arm higher than shoulder height.
- I’ve only known two; the boy who lived behind me growing up, and a man from my church.
As a child in the 60s I knew several people who had had it, and watched as one developed it and underwent therapy. I know someone who has it now. She was born outside the US, never vaccinated, and probably exposed to someone with the live virus vaccine.
I read your reply above,I am impressed that a girl with a polio affected leg and a caliper could take part in gym classes. It must have taken a lot of courage to do that.When you think about it,a girl with a lame leg requires exercise for the rest of her body just as we all do. I have seen one lady locally who has a severely lame left leg walking at considerable speed such that one would be hard pressed to catch up.I have also seen a young girl wearing the current fashion of hotpants and tights even though she had a short,thinner right leg. I think that nowadays,girls have more self-confidence in such matters,although people are still inclined to stare at anyone who has a less than perfect body.
Regards,
Tom
I’m 31. My grandfather had had polio which left him with one leg shorter than the other. He had to have one shoe built up, but the wear and tear still left him needing two knee replacements and a hip replacement over the course of his life. He died of bone cancer complications when I was 21.
My great-great aunt also had polio, and she died when I was twelve. She had polio when she was a teenager and some kind of debilitating fever the year after. She had to learn how to walk again twice, and walked with a cane the rest of her life. Her fiance left her. She then got a job reporting for the Indianapolis Star and lived a swingin’ single lifestyle in a downtown apartment 
I’m 39 and, when I was around 11-13 or so, my mother dated a guy who had polio as a child. He (left?) arm was notably atrophied compared to his other arm but he could still use it. He also had various spinal problems. I don’t remember if one of his legs was affected or not. During the time my mother dated him, he went in for surgery to have metal rods inserted along his spine and had to spend quite a time in a “body cast” which was more of a plastic turtle shell affair that came on and off.
As I recall, he contracted the disease from the vaccine.
I’m 40. I have a friend, who is in her (IIRC) late 60s who had it as a very young child. She wears custom shoes to make up for the difference in leg length, as well as the fact that one of her feet is a size 4.5 and the other 8.5. She’s one of the most amazing women I’ve ever known, and that’s before I knew about the polio.
I don’t suppose anyone in developed countries here would have first hand experience with smallpox survivors (at least knowingly). Now that, I’d be curious about.