Most persons with a disability or facing a challenge describe the details from their own perspective.  In my case, I was too young to remember the night the polio virus unleashed its virulent wrath.  My mom, Mary Ann Wood, vividly remembered that night her entire life.

The polio virus hit hardest during summer months, so Mom tried to keep her precious children—Patricia, Bill, Fred, and Kathy—close to home, on the farm located in mid-Michigan.  From 1940 to 1948, there were 132,411 reported polio cases, according to the U.S. Public Health Service..  In 1949, the daily news headlined the spiraling epidemic that eventually claimed 42,033 polio victims, the largest number ever recorded.  Mom so feared the virus that she bought polio insurance during that summer.

I was born on June 18, 1949.  Mom kept me inside and away from crowds that summer.  Autumn blessedly arrived and the family was safe, so thought Mom.  However, on the wintry morning of December 10, 1949—almost six months after my birth—polio struck.  My mom said that I screamed with pain, especially when she touched my right leg, and she intuitively knew what was wrong.  “How could this happen when I did everything to protect her?” she cried.

Adversity and suffering seemed to hover close to Mom all her life.   In 1916, Mary Ann Cook was born to one of the richest families in the area.  Her father, Ellis Cook was not only a successful farmer, but sold insurance and owned part of the local bank.  Soon after marrying Catherine, he built their house from oak trees taken from their own woods and cured for two years.  Oak floors graced all the rooms, with a long winding oak stairway and banister. Even more lavish for the poor farm community was brick on the outside.Sadly, in 1925 mother Catherine died of cancer, leaving behind five children aged 17, 15, 13, 10 (Mom), and 6.

She was so loved that her funeral was the largest ever seen at the church.  Catherine’s relatives strongly encouraged Ellis marry a younger sister, Mary and so the two wed in 1930.  However, this wife made Cinderella’s wicked stepmother seem like a pushover and the children suffered from her frequent temper tantrums and selfish ways.  Mom and her older sisters did all the cooking, cleaning, washing, and gardening.

Mom married Don Wood in 1938, and they moved into a farmhouse that was nothing more than a shack with no electricity and running water.  She had 10 pregnancies in 15 years, with four miscarriages.  Daily life was extremely hard work from dawn to dusk.   In 1946 daughter 7-year-old Pat nearly died from osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone marrow that literally eats the bone away.  Recently released penicillin from WWII saved Pat’s life, but the infection required bone reconstruction.  Then I was stricken with polio in 1949, that required scores of doctor visits and many surgeries. Add the typical childhood illnesses common during that time, plus tonsils and appendicitis surgeries and our house seemed like a mini-hospital.  Mom spent many a sleepless night caring for all of us.

So, how did Mom deal with all this?  Not only deal with it all, but with a smile on most days?

Her secrets, and other caregivers, will be highlighted in forthcoming blogs.

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