Jerolyn K. Fegan, Polk County

Interviewee: Jerolyn K. Fegan
Interviewer: Wendy Riggenberg
Date of Interview: 12/07/07
Location of Interview: Des Moines, IA

Audio CD
Biographical Data Form
Oral History Release
Photographs (7)
Transcript

Jerolyn Fegan, originally from Boone, Iowa, was only four when she contracted polio in 1952. Jeri still remembers the day with clarity, “I was feeling kind of warm and my mom thought I should lie down on the couch.  It was a Sunday because my dad was sitting on a chair by me and was reading the Sunday paper.  He gave me the comics. My mom came in and she said, ‘You’ve got a fever, I’m going to get a cloth and put it over your head and if you’re not better by tomorrow we’re going to take you in to the doctor.’  So, she put a cloth over my head and I was back to looking at the paper and all of a sudden it just fell on my face.  I couldn’t hold it up anymore.  I said, ‘Dad, I can’t hold the paper’ - and he just said, ‘Oh my God.’  He picked me up and he knew I was limp.  The paralysis must have set in instantly.  I didn’t realize it happened that way.  I remember the car – it was one of those big bulbous things that had running boards and I remember my mom sat in the back seat so that she could hold me and we drove all the way to Blank.  They put me in a room with another person…then, they said, ‘Yes, she has polio’.”