Clark, Pauline (Pauli) - Polk County

Describe what you remember about the fear surrounding polio epidemics:

I was under a year old when I contracted Polio the summer of 1952. So therefore, I only know what has been told to me. I was at Blank and was never in an Iron Lung. Polio affected my right leg.

May of 1952 my biological mother passed away leaving me at 4 months old and 3 older children. My father's mother came to stay with us at that time and that summer is when I contracted Polio. None of my other siblings or family contracted Polio.

At Blank, my biological father didn't know what to do with a handicapped child as he had 3 other children to raise, so he was going to give me away to a nurse at the hospital who wanted me. I have a few pictures where she took me home with her. My grandmother on my mother's side didn't want me to go to strangers so she persuaded my mother's sister to adopt me. She already had 3 boys of her own but I fit in and without her and my adopted father, I never would have had the medical attention needed.

I remember mom taking me to the newspaper office in Bayard, Iowa, to meet Ken Robinson. He was in a wheelchair and he put mom in touch with Crippled Children.

As I got older, I remember car trips to Iowa City and sometimes the car would come out to the farm and pick my mom and me up and take us with other people to Iowa City. I remember waiting for hours for the appointment and many doctors watching me walk.

Tell us what you remember of the impact of polio:

When I was little, I wore a build-up on my right shoe and a night brace. In I think 1963 or 1964 I went to Iowa City and had the first of two surgeries. I was told that I was one of the first to try this new procedure. Before a growth spurt, the doctors estimated my height and stopped the growth in my left leg by scraping the cartilage in my left knee, giving the right leg the time to catch up. After the surgery and as my right leg caught up, I never wore a build-up or brace again. Unless I got very tired, no one ever knew I had polio. Things were great and I was just as normal as everyone else.

I remember one time in college when I was carrying my book across campus with a couple other students. When I would get tired I would start to limp a little and one student asked if something was wrong. I told her about having Polio and she immediately stopped, backed away, and asked it if was catching. Needless to say I had a different perspective of her and wondered it all Polio survivors went through things like that.

Describe the reaction of your family and others you knew to the development of the vaccine:

I remember getting my first dose on a sugar cube at Dr. Peace's office in Redfield, Iowa. Dr. Peace said that there were different strains of Polio affecting different areas and that I still needed protection.

To date, I still get people asking why my family didn't get me the vaccine before I contracted Polio. I tell them that it was developed but not out to the public when I contracted it. You can see that by the numbers who contracted it in 1952.

General Comments:

As the years have gone by some of us are now being affected by Post Polio Syndrome. I now have trouble with my left knee and my right leg/ankle, right hip and back. I am now wearing a brace on my right leg which makes me feel like Polio finally got the upper hand. I HATE the feeling. I won all those years and now feel defeated by it. However, in a way we must have come a long way because I remember doctors telling me that I would probably be in a wheelchair by the time I was 40 with arthritis. I am 55 and still walking on my own two feet.

The surgery was a Godsend and I thank him every day for the opportunity to come out on top when so many were affected. I don't pity myself because there are people out there who are more worse off than me. I have been very lucky.

There is a reason for everything in life.