Girl with polio 1948 at a garden party (possibly)

Girl with polio 1948 at a garden party (possibly)
Flashback to 1948. A country vicarage garden party in full swing. A girl with polio (potentially) isolated in her bedroom being handed ice creams through a window.
It was like this. New Zealand was in the throes of yet another poliomyelitis epidemic, schools closed, high alert. According to one authority, “An attack of polio may be as inconsequential as measles or more agonising than death.” My own case, if it was polio (no test, you see) was inconsequential, but I had to be isolated from this gathering of the parish in our garden. I remember my bed being pushed to the window so that I could see all the hi-jinks and people passing me ice creams through the open sash window.
That’s pretty much the sum total of my memory of being a girl with polio at a garden party (possibly). I bounced back from whatever that illness was, and nobody else in the family was infected, to my knowledge. Another lucky escape in my very long life. I’ve got a poem about that…
Metal Lion
You are so difficult to kill.
Just think of all the times
you could have died
in planes in cars in ocean rips
from operations, slips and trips
from salmon bones or salmonella
or lakes or poo or mozarella
zombies or goblins or narcotics
or overuse of antibiotics.
You could have easily expired
yet on and on you live.
A history of poliomyelitis in New Zealand
Incidence rates of poliomyelitis in New Zealand
Generation recalls the New Zealand polio quarantine
And that’s a good thing.
Not quite sure what you mean, Sadie…
That you survived and are with us.
Oh yes, I see. And of course I agree 🙂
👍👍👍
Well, we’re glad you’ve continued on.
Same here! I don’t think I was very sick at the time 🤔
My now very elderly sister, contracted polio – she was one of the oldest – being in her 20s and nursing at the time – she didn’t end up in a wheelchair or with too many visible after effects, other than the nerve issues that at times cause her to “just fall”.
Those effects were quite disturbing enough, I should think.
I remember clearly the epidemics in the early 50’s. When they came out with that first vaccine my parents marched us all down to the high school for the sugar cubes.
Just think how long it was before that vaccine was developed and made available!
I know. I wonder if it will be the same this time and if we will all remember the scientist as we remember Sabin and Salk.
All those memories come flooding back of iron lungs and leg braces!