Polio and PTSD: One PersonÕs Struggle with and Triumph over the Psychological Damage of A Major Childhood Illness

Polio and PTSD: One PersonÕs Struggle with and Triumph over the Psychological Damage of A Major Childhood IllnessCharlene Elizabeths life changed forever in 1943 when she sprang from her bed to get her doll and collapsed on the floor, her right leg folding beneath her. It would be the last time she would spring any where. She was taken to the hospital, diagnosed with polio, and put into isolation. No visitors were allowed. There was no telephone or television. Her grandparents were able to stand in the hall outside her door on Sundays, her father brought a

Charlene ElizabethÕs life changed forever in 1943 when she sprang from her bed to get her doll and collapsed on the floor, her right leg folding beneath her.
It would be the last time she would spring any where.
She was taken to the hospital, diagnosed with polio, and put into isolation. No visitors were allowed. There was no telephone or television. Her grandparents were able to stand in the hall outside her door on Sundays, her father brought a stepladder to her window and visited that way.
When she returned home, after six more months in a ward, she threw herself on the couch crying. Even at her young age she knew her life would never the the same and she slipped into a serious depression that would plague her on and off for decades.
Join the author as she shares the psychological damage the can occur with a major childhood illness, or permanent injury, and how she overcame it to live a life of fulfillment.