Personal Stories

Ours is the last generation that personally experienced the widespread effects of polio in this nation. The terror it created and the permanent results on tens of thousands of lives will never be felt here again. As our legacy to the generations after us, we plan to compile a book filled with personal stories, anecdotes, and pictures. Through it, we become part of the future -- speaking for continued vigilance against polio by means of immunization.

From time to time in this section, you will be able to read different personal stories and comments by our members.

The Betty Kite Story (as told by Earlene Stover)

I had polio in the early Spring and Summer of 1942. I was nine years old at the time. I lived in Newton, KS. that night that I first got sick and I remember that my back hurt. When I stood up I fell. I was able to get up and managed to get over to the table, and then I went down and that was the last time I was able to stand.

I was only a child. When I got sick Dad took me to a doctor in Eureka, KS and that doctor said that I had a kidney infection. My Dad wasn't satisfied with that so he took me to Wichita, but there were no doctors there because of the war so he took me back to Eureka. We saw another doctor there but he had gotten papers to go to war. That doctor requested that he be able to stay and practice at home because I was his polio patient. So, he was allowed to stay and take care of me 'til I got well.

I still had to be taken care of at home because I wasn't allowed at the hospital. Due to a shortage of rubber sheets, we used a raincoat under me, then the hot packs which were torn wool blankets, and then another raincoat over me. All in the middle of Summer. Very hot! This all occurred at my Grandmother's house in Eureka, KS. The wringer washer for the hot packs was placed at my bedside and my extended family, including uncles and aunts all helped with this.

they think I got polio possibly from exhaustion. We all ran to the swimming pool 1/2 mile and then would jump in the ice cold water. I seemed to be the only one in the area that got sick. At that time we didn't know much about it. We didn't know about it being contagious, and no one shunned me.

My legs drew up 'til they almost touched the back of my head. I was 'in and out' of it. I was told that I screamed and my playmate would stand on the corner and cry. I remember that my family filled up the bathtub with hot water and this eventually helped me to move my legs more. They put a suitcase at the end of my bed to press my feet against to prevent footdrop.

I stumbled through school and was expected to do what everyone else did. I was made to join in on the games. The kids were pretty nice, but I remember being picked last for teams. I went to school in Eureka for a few years then my family moved to Hutchinson. I had trouble getting up and down the school stairs. In those days they didn't have disability accomodations.

I didn't have crutches or anything. When I started to learn to walk again, Dad put a mattress nearby so that if I fell I could land on it.

When I moved to Hutchinson, Dr. Jarrett went to the schools and examined the kids who had polio, so he became my doctor.

I went to work as a nurse's aid in 1948 at Grace Hospital at age 15. The High School was right behind the hospital so it was easy to get to work. I graduated from High School in 1950 and got married that same year. I had three children.

I stopped doing that type of work when I was 50. I then became a communications clerk at the hospital 'til I broke my leg and had to quit work at age 51. My post polio problems have probably come from over use of my legs as a nurse's aid.

Now I use a wheelchair mostly, and sometimes a walker. One leg is 3 inches shorter than the other, and I have always walked with a limp. But I have lived a full life.