by  Rod Hysted ~ contracted polio at age 6

I contracted polio early in 1964, when I was 6. I had received the full course of Salk vaccinations.

I was in grade 2, and have no real memories of the time polio began affecting me. Apparently, I was beginning to dislike school, which was very unusual, as I had loved school. I had increasing difficulty walking to and from school. Mum began to worry one afternoon, when I hadn’t arrived home. She searched for me, and found me lying, crying in the gutter, unable to walk.

I was eventually diagnosed with polio. It was an unusual case, as I had received my ‘polio shots’, and it was at the very end of the polio epidemic.

I spent the rest of the year at Lady Duggan during the week, and went home for the weekend. I was fortunate to have an excellent physiotherapist, Carolyn Goldberg, who had recently returned from studying polio treatment, in the USA. I remember with great fondness nurse Calder, who made our days great fun. I also remember with equal fondness Mona Tobias, who was a pioneer in special education, and instituted many creative solutions to help educate the kids at Lady Duggan.

I hated Friday lunches with fish and chips because the fish was horrible, destroying the magic of Friday fish and chip night for years after. I intensely disliked the bodice that strapped me to my bed each night and the plaster casts my legs were bandaged into. It took many years for me to be able to use a sleeping bag without feeling claustrophobic.

I had monthly visits to the Royal Children’s Hospital. I was very excited after one of my final visits, because I was told I would walk again. When I had my next physio session I told Miss Goldberg that I was going to walk then and there. She reluctantly suggested that I should take it slowly. Surprisingly, it was almost successful as I tried walking in great imitation of a drunken sailor across the room, before falling down as my under-exercised muscles gave up. I was on top of the world! I had walked again. Apparently, I had been adamant since I contracted polio that I would walk again, and had no hesitation letting everyone know it.

This time was very hard on my family, both emotional and financially. I know that mum and dad gave up necessities, like food, to pay bills for my polio expenses. I am forever grateful to my wonderful parents for their dedication to me.

After returning home, just before Christmas that year, life slowly returned to normal. I went back to school the following year, in year 4.

I really didn’t think of polio until relatively recently. But with physical changes, especially down my left side, perhaps a challenge is developing again with the Late Effects Of Polio. My main hope is that I won’t become a burden on my incredible wife, Heather, who has enough to do putting up with my idiosyncrasies.

by  Rod Hysted ~ contracted polio at age 6