Wilkinson, Margaret - Scott County

Describe what you remember about the fear surrounding polio epidemics:

My father, Laurence McKillip had paralytic polio in the summer of 1944. He had no symptoms except the creeping paralysis that started in his feet and moved to his waist. He was the father of seven children, age 14 to two. He was taken by ambulance to the University Hospitals in Iowa City, Iowa. My mother was a registered nurse and she went with Daddy to Iowa City and stayed and worked in the polio and burn wards.

My maternal grandmother came from Bancroft, Iowa to Ottumwa to take care of us. Two weeks after Daddy went to Iowa City, I was taken there for non-paralytic polio. We were both in different isolation wards at the hospital. My mother learned the Kenny method of treatment and when my father could come home, she did the exercises several times daily and we all helped move Daddy's legs as he stood by the bed. Mother taught Daddy to walk with walking sticks by swinging his legs forward from the hip and was able to return to work. He had been a butcher but now was unable to do that work and he was a cashier at the meat market.

When Mother took Daddy back to the University Hospitals for his check up, the Doctor that took care of him could not believe that we was able to walk. He called all of the Doctors into the auditorium and with my Mother beside him, he read my Father's chart, this forty-two year old man was presented with paralytic polio and not expected to live, and if he did live he would be confined to a wheel chair. Then he called to my Father, who walked across the stage and the Dr. said "I want you to see what the love of a good woman can do."  My Father lived until 1951 and died of a massive coronary.

We did not worry about polio because we did not go to any public places except to school and church, and I was twelve years old and only worried about Daddy and when they could come back home.

The neighbors would take the four oldest of us to Iowa City to see Daddy and Mother. We were not allowed into the hospital, so we stood in the courtyard at the window and Daddy would put his hand on the screen and we would match ours to his and feel comforted.

I could go on and on but will stop here.

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

I was married with four children when the vaccine became available in Ottumwa. My husband and I were thrilled as was all of our family to know that no one would ever be paralyzed from that disease again, and our gratitude to Dr. Salk is immeasurable. After reading the book about his work, I am even more grateful that he and the others worked so hard to find a cure.