Today, Tyler R.
Tichelaar of Reader Views is pleased to be joined by Janice Flood Nichols, who is here to talk about her new book, "Twin Voices: A Memoir of Polio, the Forgotten Killer," iUniverse (2007), ISBN 9780595433162.
Janice Flood Nichols was diagnosed with polio as a child, as was her twin brother.
Her twin brother was lost to the disease, but Janice survived and became one of the polio pioneers who was given the Salk vaccine in 1954.
She is committed to the eradication of the disease.
She will tell us more today about her amazing story as told in "Twin Voices.
" Tyler:Welcome, Janice.
I'm honored that you could join me today.
In the United States, it's fair to say that polio is a forgotten killer, and you yourself personally survived it, so why do you feel the need to bring it to the public's attention again by writing "Twin Voices"? Janice:For many years, I had been under the false impression that polio had been essentially eradicated throughout the world.
But, in 2003, a friend sent me the March 2003 edition of the "Rotarian" (the magazine for members of Rotary International).
Her note to me was a simple one, "Jan, now you have to write your story.
" She had always encouraged me to write, but I couldn't tell the Flood Family's story if its only purpose was to add one more polio memoir to the mix.
This "Rotarian" pulled at my heart in a profound way.
I was sickened to read that innocent children were still suffering from the killer and crippler.
I sat down with my husband, Dave, and told him that I wanted to write a book.
As an orthopedic surgeon, Dave understands the lifetime impact of polio all too well.
In fact, this saga of mine has sent him on his own quest.
This past fall, he returned to school part-time to earn his Master's in Public Health.
Our son, Kevin, designed the website for the book and keeps it continually updated.
For four years, I've devoted nearly every day of my life to research and writing.
Since the book was published in early fall 2007, I've devoted my time to "spreading the word" about polio and the need for eradication via presentations to students, civic groups, and service organizations.
The book is a tool to reach people I can't reach personally.
Tyler:What kind of reaction do you get from people when you talk to them about polio? Janice:The reactions are varied.
Individuals who remember the epidemic years recall their own stories-of being survivors, of knowing people who contracted polio, of how terrified their parents were of polio epidemics, of all the restrictions our parents placed on our activities in an effort to protect us.
People born after the epidemic years are amazed that polio was such an issue before the vaccine was developed.
Like me, most people have been unaware that polio continues to infect children and young adults in several Third World countries, and that all unvaccinated people (even those in western countries) remain vulnerable to the infection.
Most people in my age group have been unaware that parents can receive waivers to opt out of vaccination for their children.
People who are old enough to remember the polio epidemics are appalled by the short sightedness of such vaccine waivers.
Every once in awhile, I meet someone who is under the impression that people who contracted polio in the epidemic years came from dirty homes.
I like to correct their misperceptions:Some public health officials have described polio as "the clean people's disease.
" In Canada, polio is sometimes described as "the middle-class plague.
" Tyler: Janice, will you tell us a little bit about how it felt, especially as a child, to be someone with polio? Janice: Polio was just a reality in my life.
Because I made a complete recovery, I didn't even think of myself as a "polio survivor.
" If you read most polio memoirs, you'll learn that children were often shunned by those around them-people were terrified of polio.
But, everyone around me just seemed to love me and accept me, so I didn't feel "different" even though I walked "funny" for a few years.
Learning to walk again was very difficult, but learning to cope with Frankie's death was what consumed me as a little girl.
I couldn't move on until I had concluded that Frankie was OK in Heaven.
I was not so much a polio survivor as I was a little girl who had lost her birth-partner to the disease.
Tyler:Janice, will you tell us a little bit about how a person contracts polio, and also about the cure for it since I understand you were one of the polio pioneers in the test group who were first given the Salk vaccine? Janice:Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus.
It's spread through fecal-oral contact, oral-oral contact, and contaminated food and water.
Although polio has plagued mankind since ancient times, polio infection did not reach epidemic proportions throughout the western world until the late 19thC
Tichelaar of Reader Views is pleased to be joined by Janice Flood Nichols, who is here to talk about her new book, "Twin Voices: A Memoir of Polio, the Forgotten Killer," iUniverse (2007), ISBN 9780595433162.
Janice Flood Nichols was diagnosed with polio as a child, as was her twin brother.
Her twin brother was lost to the disease, but Janice survived and became one of the polio pioneers who was given the Salk vaccine in 1954.
She is committed to the eradication of the disease.
She will tell us more today about her amazing story as told in "Twin Voices.
" Tyler:Welcome, Janice.
I'm honored that you could join me today.
In the United States, it's fair to say that polio is a forgotten killer, and you yourself personally survived it, so why do you feel the need to bring it to the public's attention again by writing "Twin Voices"? Janice:For many years, I had been under the false impression that polio had been essentially eradicated throughout the world.
But, in 2003, a friend sent me the March 2003 edition of the "Rotarian" (the magazine for members of Rotary International).
Her note to me was a simple one, "Jan, now you have to write your story.
" She had always encouraged me to write, but I couldn't tell the Flood Family's story if its only purpose was to add one more polio memoir to the mix.
This "Rotarian" pulled at my heart in a profound way.
I was sickened to read that innocent children were still suffering from the killer and crippler.
I sat down with my husband, Dave, and told him that I wanted to write a book.
As an orthopedic surgeon, Dave understands the lifetime impact of polio all too well.
In fact, this saga of mine has sent him on his own quest.
This past fall, he returned to school part-time to earn his Master's in Public Health.
Our son, Kevin, designed the website for the book and keeps it continually updated.
For four years, I've devoted nearly every day of my life to research and writing.
Since the book was published in early fall 2007, I've devoted my time to "spreading the word" about polio and the need for eradication via presentations to students, civic groups, and service organizations.
The book is a tool to reach people I can't reach personally.
Tyler:What kind of reaction do you get from people when you talk to them about polio? Janice:The reactions are varied.
Individuals who remember the epidemic years recall their own stories-of being survivors, of knowing people who contracted polio, of how terrified their parents were of polio epidemics, of all the restrictions our parents placed on our activities in an effort to protect us.
People born after the epidemic years are amazed that polio was such an issue before the vaccine was developed.
Like me, most people have been unaware that polio continues to infect children and young adults in several Third World countries, and that all unvaccinated people (even those in western countries) remain vulnerable to the infection.
Most people in my age group have been unaware that parents can receive waivers to opt out of vaccination for their children.
People who are old enough to remember the polio epidemics are appalled by the short sightedness of such vaccine waivers.
Every once in awhile, I meet someone who is under the impression that people who contracted polio in the epidemic years came from dirty homes.
I like to correct their misperceptions:Some public health officials have described polio as "the clean people's disease.
" In Canada, polio is sometimes described as "the middle-class plague.
" Tyler: Janice, will you tell us a little bit about how it felt, especially as a child, to be someone with polio? Janice: Polio was just a reality in my life.
Because I made a complete recovery, I didn't even think of myself as a "polio survivor.
" If you read most polio memoirs, you'll learn that children were often shunned by those around them-people were terrified of polio.
But, everyone around me just seemed to love me and accept me, so I didn't feel "different" even though I walked "funny" for a few years.
Learning to walk again was very difficult, but learning to cope with Frankie's death was what consumed me as a little girl.
I couldn't move on until I had concluded that Frankie was OK in Heaven.
I was not so much a polio survivor as I was a little girl who had lost her birth-partner to the disease.
Tyler:Janice, will you tell us a little bit about how a person contracts polio, and also about the cure for it since I understand you were one of the polio pioneers in the test group who were first given the Salk vaccine? Janice:Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus.
It's spread through fecal-oral contact, oral-oral contact, and contaminated food and water.
Although polio has plagued mankind since ancient times, polio infection did not reach epidemic proportions throughout the western world until the late 19thC
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