Hulst, Louise - Sioux County

Describe what you remember about the fear surrounding polio epidemics:

The summer of 1952 is a summer we will never forget. My husband John had just finished his first year at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was assigned to work as a summer intern in the Christian Reformed Church in Ireton, Iowa, Sioux County. We had been married for just six months and we were excited to take on this new venture. We packed books and clothes in our 1947 Ford coupe and headed west.

Growing up in Michigan we were aware of "infantile paralysis" and were both carefully monitored by our mothers during the summer months. But neither of us were prepared for the polio epidemic that struck Iowa in 1952. Each morning the Sioux City Journal reported the number of new cases admitted to area hospitals and the number of deaths.

Still, when I began to suffer flu-like symptoms in the ninth week of our ten-week assignment, neither of us suspected polio. Our doctor did, however, and performed a spinal tap which confirmed the fact that I had polio. I was taken immediately to St. Joseph's Hospital in Sioux City. The clothes I wore to the hospital were burned, I was confined to bed, and quarantined until the nausea and vomiting had passed. The hospital was crowded with beds and iron lungs in hallways and every room. Navy corpsmen were called to assist nurses in caring for patients and helping to administer the requisite hot packs. I was kept in the hospital for two weeks.

Meanwhile, two days after I was hospitalized, John came down with similar symptoms. For some reason, the same doctor who treated me didn't recognize the fact that John also had polio. So, John stayed in the parsonage in Ireton and our parents came from Michigan to care for him. The doctor said John should continue to walk, and he tried to do that until he was unable to support his weight. My father contacted the Polio Foundation and on their recommendation chartered a plane to fly us back to Michigan. When we got back to Michigan, John was hospitalized in Blodgett Hospital for two weeks. By that time, his left leg was paralyzed. I registered him for the fall semester in the Seminary, but he was unable to attend classes until mid-term. In the meantime, I helped him with reading and research. He had physical therapy for a year and a half, walking first with crutches and then with a cane. He was able to graduate with his class in 1954 and, even though we swore we would never go west of the Mississippi River again, he accepted a call to Sioux County, where we now have lived for 50 years--10 serving churches, 28 at Dordt College where I worked in the Library and John served in a variety of positions and finally as President, and 12 in retirement in Sioux Center and at Lake Okoboji.

When John was in physical therapy, he was told that in five years there would be a vaccine that would eradicate polio. That turned out to be true, and we were grateful that our children could have the sugar cubes that would prevent the disease.

Today, I have no symptoms, but John has only 10% muscle in his left leg. In spite of that weakness he has been able to lead a full and productive life. He suffers some from post-polio syndrome--particularly occasional difficulty in swallowing and fatigue. But we both feel blessed to have survived this crippling disease.