Joan Baier, Adair County

Interviewee: Joan Baier
Interviewer: Thomas Sullivan
Date of Interview: 12/07/07
Run Time: Approximately 30M

Cassette
Biographical Data Form
Oral History Release
Transcript

Joan Baier, currently of Fontanelle, was pregnant with a baby when she was diagnosed with polio in 1951 in Adair County.  She and her husband had only been married for a year and a half when they received the news. Joan recalls, “I had been kind of ill. I thought I had the flu until I began to feel different in my arms and legs. Then, I got so I could not talk and could not swallow. So, we went to the doctor and he told me I already got it and it has settled where it is going to be. So, he sent me to bed. I was in bed for three weeks and I just kept getting worse and worse. At that time, the doctor came to the house out in the country. And, I finally began to recover. I think it was in October of 1951. It took me quite a while to walk again. I still could not eat anything. It was probably a year before I could eat normal food. My voice never did come back completely. But, I have had a good life ever since.”