Polio's Legacy [Paperback]

Edmund J. Sass (Author), George Gottfried (Author), Anthony Sorem (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0761801448 | ISBN-13: 978-0761801443 | Publication Date: March 1996

This book shows readers the reality of polio and how it alters human lives. Thirty-five polio survivors open their hearts to explain their experiences--the day they were diagnosed with polio, their initial hospital stay, the therapy and the treatments they received, and the effects of polio on their childhood, youth, adulthood, and relationships with others. The editor, a polio survivor himself, and two colleagues obtained interviews with these survivors. The result is this written tribute to the survival of the human spirit. The book begins with an introduction to the disease. Next, the stories of the thirty-five interviewees are detailed and arranged into chapters according to the survivors' common life experiences. Finally, the editor provides a conclusion in hopes of 'making some sense of polio's legacy.' Readers will see how polio's legacy reveals itself through these stories. Because these are personal accounts about humans with a disease, they also provide information about others with disabling disorders. Polio's Legacy will be of prime interest to those in the medical field and anyone who wants to see the reality of the individual's fight for life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

These accounts are remarkable for the very personal, but never self-pitying, introspective narrative style used in describing the initial painful onset of polio, the bewilderment, the hospitalization, frequent misdiagnosis, overly-radical treatment, including surgery, or no treatment at all, the splinting, casting, isolation, immobilization, or unrelenting exercise and rehabilitative therapy of every sort.>>> (New Jersey Polio Network )

This is a book that every person who has had polio should read and share with their partner in life.>>>> (Post Polio Sudbury Chapter )

...useful for illustrating how oral history can retrieve viewpoints of intimate human transactions which temper the documentary dominance of elite professionals...provides the impetus to expand what Sass has helpfully started.>>>> (Oral History Review )

An important, well-crafted book.>>>> (Choice )

An important, well-crafted book. (Choice )

These accounts are remarkable for the very personal, but never self-pitying, introspective narrative style used in describing the initial painful onset of polio, the bewilderment, the hospitalization, frequent misdiagnosis, overly-radical treatment, including surgery, or no treatment at all, the splinting, casting, isolation, immobilization, or unrelenting exercise and rehabilitative therapy of every sort. (New Jersey Polio Network )

This is a book that every person who has had polio should read and share with their partner in life. (Post Polio Sudbury Chapter )

...useful for illustrating how oral history can retrieve viewpoints of intimate human transactions which temper the documentary dominance of elite professionals...provides the impetus to expand what Sass has helpfully started. (Oral History Review )

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: University Press Of America (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761801448
• ISBN-13: 978-0761801443
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #465,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, June 28, 2005

By 

Pat (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Polio's Legacy (Paperback)

As a polio survivor, I am grateful to Edmund Sass for the comprehensive coverage of people whose lives were forever changed by this disease. I read it hoping to get some elucidation about some recent problems I have that I think may be caused by post-polio. I am so fortunate to have lived a life relatively free of polio residuals after having had both bulbar and spinal polio. I am grateful to my parents for their unrelenting belief in exercising limbs that would have atrophied without their help. They did exercises with me and hired a physical therapist who was aware of Sister Kenny's methods to live with us and work with me every day. They never gave up, so I never did either. I find that much of my life has been lived the same way - I will never give up when I have made a commitment to do something, and have often exhausted my physical resources by being this way. I remember being in an iron lung, having to have a tracheotomy, the spinal tap, isolation, rocking beds, crutches, leg braces and then realizing the ultimate goal of walking again. I hated not being able to run like my classmates, but my parents unfailingly pointed out that many of the children in my polio ward would never ever be able to walk again and I should always be grateful for all the people who brought me back from the very brink of death. I acknowledge being an A+ personality type and the onset of my present disabilities is particularly difficult to accept after having gone "through the fire" once. I still think often of the children in my ward who died from complications of polio and I would like to think that I fought so hard to be whole for them, too. Thank you, Edmund Sass, for a worthwhile book. I am now going to pursue more information and perhaps treatment for post-polio symptoms.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tribute to all those affected by polio, including families, January 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Polio's Legacy (Hardcover)

For anyone whose life has been touched by polio, whether through direct experience with the disease, caring for those who were affected by it or the fear of those epidemic summers , 3Polio1s Legacy2 will evoke powerful memories. For some, the book might even help piece together crucial aspects of a buried past that shaped their lives. Or they might remember the horror of hearing that their spinal tap did indeed indicate polio, and of being told they would never walk again. And few of us will forget the struggle back into the mainstream. We all fought hard not to be 3crippled2, even though we were! Cripples in the first half of this century were frequently looked upon with disdain. Feared or thought to be cursed by God, whatever the reason, some physically disabled children were even barred from attending public schools. President F. D. Roosevelt, however, personally overcame the prejudices of that era through a 3cheerful striving toward normalization2, and that is in effect what we all did. Edmund Sass begins with a layman1s description of polio in both the acute phase and the later effects which are commonly referred to as the post-polio syndrome. He then introduces us to 35 U.S. polio survivors who present their shared experiences in their own words. They tell us about the initial illness, lumbar punctures, hospitalization, separation from family and friends, iron lungs, wheelchairs, surgery, scoliosis, braces, crutches, canes and much more. Dr. Richard Owen, a doctor who had polio and who edited 3Polio1s Legacy2 for medical accuracy, wrote the following in his preface: 3The memories jarred loose by reading this book. . . .help to define ourselves by understanding better the way we were and by becoming more sensitive to the experiences of others. The stories contain instances of grimness and humor, of courage and fear, of opinion and sadness, of coping and denial. This carefully- put-together book is a service to society as a history of a time and of a disease with broad ramifications and implications.2 3How can I live within my limitations and still be the same person I was?2 asks one of the polio survivors who finally acknowledged that she needed help in coping with new weaknesses many years after the original polio. Many who had polio probably have asked or will ask themselves the same question because post-polio syndrome is a reality for people aging with polio. Why some people have late effects and others don1t has yet to be determined. There are, however, some predictive factors. The following reflection by someone who is experiencing new difficulty with his old polio speaks for many: 3Some days when I have more than my usual number of aches and pains or when my energy level is particularly low, I feel like I have a ticking time-bomb inside my body that is about to go off. I1ve come to the conclusion that polio is a particularly cruel disease. It steals your childhood, gives you 20 or 30 years to adjust to the disabilities with which you were left, and then threatens to return to complicate your life once again.2 Despite all this, most of those interviewed have lead full and enriched lives. Their stories celebrate life and the resiliency of the human spirit and might even inspire parents of handicapped children today. 3To individuals with polio residuals and/or post-polio syndrome and their families, the book serves as a collective memoir. To those health workers, scientists, and volunteers who participated in the battles against this frightening and often devastating disease, the book can function as recognition for a job well done.2 (Dr. Owen1s preface) But for me, the highlight of 3Polio1s Legacy2 is Sass1s dedication of his book to the parents (or caregivers) of polio survivors: 3Though we went through hell2, says the author, 3we took our parents along for the ride....and they never complained.2 To all parents and families, and mine in particular, this is an opportunity to offer a delayed but profound thank you. Sally Aitken.

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Strong First Person Accounts, February 1, 2011

By 

BrooklynBen "brooklynben" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Polio's Legacy (Paperback)

This is a very good set of first person accounts of this disease. it is getting harder and harder for young people to find account from those who survived or were directly affected by this terrible disease. This book does a good job of illuminating that era for the young reader. The other place a reader can get a strong sense of this era and its aftermath is at the History of Vaccines site, developed by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. ( [...] ) The two resources worked well together for me.