"Although the limb affected was much shrunk and contracted, my general health, which was of more importance...
[I] was now a healthy, high-spirited, and, my lameness apart, a sturdy child."
(Lockhardt's Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott, 1837)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd US President

FDR Memorial in Washington, DC
"In 1921, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life changed forever. At the age of 39 he contracted poliomyelitis (polio) - an acute neural virus that left him paralyzed from the waist down."
Picture of FDR in his wheelchair.

More quotes from remarks made by Senate Majority Leader, Bob Dole, on the floor of the U.S. Senate in honor of the 50th anniversary of FDR's death (April 12, 1995): "...on the evening of August 10th, while on vacation, he felt ill and went to bed early. Within three days he was paralyzed from the chest down. Although the muscles of his upper body soon recovered, he remained paralyzed below the waist." Dole goes on to say, "FDR believed in an independent life for people with disabilities--at a time when society thought they belonged at home or in institutions." You can read the whole article on the Polio Survivor's Page.

USS Potomac, Presidental Yacht, had a dummy stack installed to provide accessibility for FDR

Bill Cullen, game show host:
"He was partially crippled by childhood polio."

Alan Alda, actor:
"Suffered from bad case of Polio as a young child." Alan continues to stay very busy and is now hosting a TV special series, " Scientific American Frontiers" on your local PBS station.

Mia Farrow, actress and mother to 13 children, some with disabilities including polio and CP. In Mia's memoir, "What Falls Away" she talks about her life before she got Polio at age 9, as well as after her Polio experience.

Dinah Shore, singer:
"Stricken with Polio at eighteen months, she recovered after receiving the Sister Kenny treatment."
Honorary Member, Ladies Professional Golf Association's "Hall of Fame"
The first female star with her own prime-time TV variety show.

Arthur Guyton, from Jackson, MS, was stricken with Polio while he was a young surgical resident in Boston, shortly after WW II. The Polio left him partially paralyzed, forcing him to abandon his dreams of becoming a heart surgeon. He went on to develop an international reputation for his work involving heart diseases, writing one of the world's best selling medical texts as well as dozens of other books. He and his wife, Ruth, raised 10 children and all of them became doctors!
(ABC News, 20/20, November 28, 1997)

Julius Robert Oppenheimer, was a "boy of delicate stature (he suffered from polio and repeated bouts of pneumonia")...as a child. (Biography Magazine/April 1997, p. 85-88). From Biography: "Robert Oppenheimer built the A- bomb, and struggled with his conscience forever after." He learned to speak eight languages and also took time to read many of the great writings of Western civilization.

Joni Mitchell, polio age 9, singer:
"...the 80s were a rough decade for me and on top of it I was diagnosed as having post-polio syndrome which they said was inevitable for I'm a polio survivor, that forty years after you had the disease, which is a disease of the nervous system, the wires that animate certain muscles are taken out by the disease, and the body in its ingenious way, the filaments of the adjacent muscles send out branches and try to animate that muscle. It's kind of like the EverReady bunny, the muscles all around the muscles that are gone begin to go also because they've been trying to drive this muscle for so long. That's the nature of what was happening so I had it mostly in my back, so you don't see it as much as you would in a withered leg or an arm. But the weight of the guitar became unbearable. Also, acoustic guitar requires that you extend your shoulder out in an abnormal way and coincidentally some of the damage to my back in combination with that position was very painful. So, there was a merchant in Los Angeles who knew of my difficulties and knew that this machine was coming along that would solve my tuning problems and he made on spec a Stratocaster for me out of yellow cedar that was very light and thin as a wafer, so an electric guitar is a more comfortable design for my handicap. Then, a genius lothier built me this two and a half pound guitar which is not only beautiful to look at but it kind of contours to my body. It fits my hip and even kind of cups up like a bra! It's just beautifully designed and then also I abandoned regular medicine and fell into the hands first of a Kahuna and then a Chinese mystic acupuncturist who put down his pins and just points at you. I know this sounds real quacky but they did some mysterious good to the problem and I feel fine."
From a conversation with Joni Mitchell by Jody Denberg, September 9, 1998.

Ray Peterson was born April 23, 1939 in Denton, TX. "He spent much of his childhood recovering from polio, and during an extended stay in a nearby treatment facility he began performing for his fellow patients. As Peterson's health returned he began singing professionally in local clubs..." Many will remember his rock and roll hits from the 1950s, "Corina, Corina" and "Tell Laura, I Love Her."

Jerome Solon Felder is better known as the legendary songwriter, Doc Pomus. "At age 6, he was sent to summer camp in Connecticut to escape a city-wide polio epidemic. In a cruel twist of fate, he contracted polio at camp." Recalled Doc, "I woke up one morning, and I couldn't move. My family rushed me to Long Island Hospital, and I was placed in plaster casts from the neck down." As teenagers, Pomus and his songwriting partner, Mort Shuman, wrote hits for Elvis Presley, Fabian, Dion & The Belmonts, as well as The Drifters and The Coasters.

Itzhak Perlman, violinist (first on TV as a child on the Ed Sullivan Show)
"The Israeli-born Perlman walks with crutches and plays and conducts while seated because of a childhood bout with polio. Itzhak adds, "I am tired of being a human interest story, a brave handicapped musician. I am a musician for whom life is not easy. But then, is life easy for anyone?"
Saskatchewan Awareness of Post Polio Society Inc. (SAPP) Newsletter, December 1996

Dorothea Lange, photographer: Dr. Henry Holland, polio survivor, writes about Dorothea, "At age seven, she fell ill to acute polio. The residual polio damage involved a withered right lower leg and a noticeable limp. Lange viewed her handicap as a determination factor in her life. She stated that her handicap shaped her very personality and was one from which she could never escape. In later years her limp might have been an asset in helping to disarm people on first encounters with her camera. She felt that her limp might have helped strangers be more accepting of her when she was photographing in the field."

Christopher Templeton, actress: Was a lead character for 11 years on the soap, "The Young and the Restless." She is also starring in the movie, "Ready, Willing, and Able" as an FBI agent disabled in the line of duty, and trying to regain her career in a wheelchair. It is directed by Jenni Gold, another very capable and feisty disabled woman. "Templeton, whose disability was caused by polio, can walk with a cane but uses a manual wheelchair for the post-accident scenes in the movie."

Alan Toy got Polio in 1953 at age 3. Toy is described as "...an actor, activist and organizer; a writer, teacher and community leader; serves on the board of almost every disability-concerned organization in Southern California; has been called a disabled urban professional, a careerist; a champion for the human rights model." Alan has had "...roles in M*A*S*H, Matlock, Born on the Fourth of July, In the Line of Fire and Beverly Hills 90210, among many other productions."
From an interview by Barry Corbet, New Mobility, March 1996

Elizabeth Twistington Higgins, got Polio in 1953. She was a mother of three, an acclaimed ballet dancer and teacher. At the height of her career, she found herself in the hospital totally paralysed from the neck down. But, she used her uncompromising determination to become a world famous artist painting with a brush held in her mouth. She became a member of Mouth and Foot Artists along with more polio survivors and others from many countries.
Recommended reading: "The Dance Goes On: The Life and Art of Elizabeth Twistington Higgins." This is a great autobiography with many pictures and wonderful paintings (many of ballerinas and angels).

Wilma Rudolph, athlete (olympic gold medalist):
"She was born prematurely on June 23, 1940 in St. Bethlehem, Tenn. She weighed 4 1/2 pounds. The bulk of her childhood was spent in bed. She suffered from double pneumonia, scarlet fever and later she contacted polio. After losing the use of her left leg, she was fitted with metal leg braces when she was 6..." Then in Rome in 1960, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in one olympics.

Jack Nicklaus: In the foreword of his book, "Golf My Way" it states,
"Even a slight case of polio failed to prevent him from turning up...for a golf match."

Marjorie Lawrence, world famous dramatic opera singer:
In her early thirties, Margorie got sick in Mexico City and was diagnosed with Poliomyelitis. Margorie writes that her husband, Tom..."insisted on taking me back to the United States...to the world-famous waters at Hot Springs, Arkansas where he knew the hot waters would at least alleviate my terrible pain." There is more of "the fascinating life story of the famous singer and her triumphant battle to resume her career after a crippling attack of polio," in her book, "Interrupted Melody," but it is unfortunately out of print. However, you can sometimes find her book on one of the auction sites, or at the library or book sales.

INTERRUPTED MELODY (1955)
This movie stars Eleanor Parker as Marjorie and chronicles her life as a well known soprano of the 1930s and 40s. The operatic passages are sung by Eileen Farrell, a noted Wagnerian soprano. A very interesting film about Marjorie's battle with Polio.

Claudius, Emperor of Rome (41-54 A.D.):
"Claudius escaped the wrath of his mad nephew, Caligula, because the effects of his infantile paralysis made him appear as no threat to the throne. However, after the Praetorian Guard assassinated Caligula and he was thrust upon the throne, he surprised everyone by being a capable administrator. His major mistake was recalling Caligula's sister Agrippina back from banishment and wedding her. She later poisoned him after he adopted her son Nero, to get her son on the throne."

Ruma is a Syrian boy who probably had the earliest known case of a disease now known as Polio. When Ruma was 5 years old he got very sick with pain in his head and his leg ached. When he was no better after several days, his father carried the boy to the temple where they believed the priest would cure him with powerful magic (charms, amulets, herbs, and magic drinks). The story of Ruma is seen on a 3,000 year old Egyptian tablet, and is perhaps the earliest pictorial record of Polio. Some thought maybe his leg was just poorly drawn, but the stone tablet (stele) tells the story of Ruma, now a grown man with a withered right leg. And, he is holding a long stick to use as a crutch. The tablet tells that he is a gatekeeper at the temple of Astarte in Egypt. He is shown with his wife, Ama and his young son, Ptah-m-heb. He brings with him fruit, wine, and a gazelle for the goddess he believes saved his life.
"Never to Die: the Egyptians in their own words," by Josephine Mayer and Tom Prideaux, p. 80
"Polio Pioneers, The Story of the Fight Against Polio" by Dorothy and Philip Sterling, 1955, p. 9-12
The Polio Stele (limestone with original paintwork) is part of museum collection at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Dantes Plads 7, Copenhagen, Denmark, and was acquired in Egypt in the 1980s.

Frida Kahlo was married to famous Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera. She had polio when she was 6, and faced pain from many broken bones, operations and even amputation. She may have committed suicide, but surely led a strange, often x-rated life. Here's the story about one of her paintings:
The Suicide of Dorothy Hale

Tenley Albright, doctor and former figure skater (olympic gold medalist)
Tenley was 11 when she got Polio. "I don't remember fear about being sick. The fear I had was staying in the hospital overnight. I couldn't imagine anything worse. But no one told me how serious it was. In fact, they took the sign "polio" off my door..." Tenley followed in her father's footsteps and became a surgeon in Boston, MA. She is a member of the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame, President's Council on Physical Fitness, American College of Sport's Medicine, American Cancer Society, and the Executive Committee of the US Olympic Committee.

Francis Ford Coppola, filmmaker producer and screenwriter:
"When I was about 9, I had polio, and one of the conditions of polio was...people were very frightened for their children, so you tended, if you had it, to be isolated. So...there was about a year and a half when I stayed at home. I was paralyzed for a while."

Dennis Washington, businessman:
"I was about eight years old when I contracted polio. It was a very traumatic time in my life. I was just old enough to know that something was really wrong, but really too young to be able to digest it properly..."

Link to the American Academy of Achievement, and do a search for polio or individuals: Albright, Washington, Coppola, as well as Salk

"From the Internet - Did you know they'd had polio?" Post Polio Network (NSW-Australia) Inc. and Poet's Corner (with two Polio Poems).

Dr. Jonas Salk (1914-1995), Polio researcher
"Salk, his wife and their sons were among the first to receive injections. In 1954, more than 1.8 million school children - nicknamed Polio Pioneers - participated in a nationwide test of the vaccine during history's largest medical experiment."

Dr. Albert Sabin (1906-1993) from Paterson, NJ, became one of the most famous scientists of the century. Dr. Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine: a live vaccine. First used in 1960 in Europe after extensive (5 years) testing. First used in the USA in 1962, preventing new cases of polio. "Through out the world, he is one of the most recognizable and revered names in medical science. In the 1960s, Dr. John R. Paul, Professor Emeritus of Preventative Medicine and Epidemiology at Yale University wrote about Albert Sabin in the history of poliomyelitis, 'No man has ever contributed so much effective information and so continuously over so many years to so many aspects of poliomyelitis as Sabin.'"

For other Polio Professionals, click here

Sister Elizabeth Kenny (1880-1952), Australian nurse
Books by or about Sister Elizabeth Kenny:
"Sister Kenny: The Woman Who Challenged the Doctors" by Victor Cohn
"And They Shall Walk: The Life Story of Sister Elizabeth Kenny" written in collaboration with Martha Ostenso
"The Kenny Concept of Infantile Paralysis and Its Treatment" by John Pohl, MD, in collaboration with Elizabeth Kenny.

SISTER KENNY
A film from 1946 starring Rosalind Russell as Sister Elizabeth Kenny. Miss Russell insisted that the movie be made and won a Golden Globe in 1947. That same year she also received an Academy Award® Nomination for the movie. Worth seeing as is this next movie.

SUNRISE AT CAMPOBELLO (1960)
Ralph Bellamy and Greer Garson portray Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in this acclaimed drama of the FDR's lifelong struggle with polio and his attempts to re-enter politics after his debilitating attack in the 1920s. Also starring: Hume Cronyn, Jean Hagen, and Tim Considine. Academy Award® Nominations: Best Actress for Greer Garson, Best Interior Decoration (Color), Best Sound, Best Costume Design (Color).

Olympia Dukakis, "Rose," Oscar winning actress:
"She was on a scholarship, so when she happened on theatre in her sophomore year and wrote and produced the class revue with another girl, she couldn't afford to go to drama school and become an actress. 'My mother was the one who sat me down and said that there was no money, and that I'd have to go and get a job. So I worked out that the the best-paid job for a woman at that time was as a physical therapist. And the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis was giving scholarships to people who would train and then go and work in the field.'

For several years she worked with polio victims all over the States, eventually quitting and going to Boston University in the late 50s to study acting..."

In 1998, Olympia Dukakis narrated the video of "A Paralyzing Fear: The Story of Polio in America."

Helen Hayes had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth MacArthur, born in 1930 who died from polio. "In 1949, Mary joined her mother on stage in Good Housekeeping at the Falmouth Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut. During tryouts, Mary was stricken with polio and died." Website on Helen Hayes.

The hospital where her daughter was treated was renamed Helen Hayes Hospital in her honor in the 1970s. She served on the Board of Trustees until she died in 1993.

Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw New York, was also known as: New York Rehabilitation and Research Hospital, New York State Reconstruction Home, and New York State Orthopedic Hospital for Children...

This page is also dedicated to those Polio survivors who are no longer with us. I count Ricardo (Rick) Estevens, LA, as a great friend, (even though we never met in person) because he introduced me to PPS friends and information on the internet. May he rest in peace. Many lived long enough to suffer from Post Polio Syndrome, but tried to live life to the fullest as much as possible. May they all rest in peace.

Polio Survivors on the Internet, nice alphabetical list of many polios on Lincolnshire Post Polio Network.

PPRG has done a nicely alphabetized list of Famous Polio People. Check it out!