This was in the early part of 1960 just a few months after coming home from treatment at the Warm Springs Foundation Hospital. I had just turned four years old.
I would have to go back and review my previous posts on this blog to know for sure when my last one was published but I believe is was just about one year ago this month. I have no excuse other than having too much on my plate and forgetting to return to update. I personally hate it when I go to websites and blogs that aren’t maintained on a regular basis. I honestly believe it not to be the fault of the owners, often circumstances beyond their control can come up.
I won’t go into too much detail right now (to be continued…lol) but will say this past year has been a challenge with it’s ups and downs, but then again, that is life. I will say this, my faith, my Christianity, patience, psychological, mental and physical health have all been tested to the limit but I have held strong.
A certain individual has recently offered to help me improve and collaborate with my website, “Polio Survivors of the 21st Century” in the new year 2015. This site is very important to me as it is a non-profit site I have dedicated to all polio survivors in hopes I can provide constant up to date resources. Once a vaccine for polio was discovered, polio victims/survivors were forgotten, literally. Physicians, healthcare professionals, health insurance companies, healthcare organizations, hospitals and the public no longer had knowledge of the care Post-Polio Survivors needed.
Many of us gave our all to dedicate our lives to others. The majority of us had/have a Type A personality where nothing and no one could slow us down! Unfortunately it caught up with us. The polio virus affected neurons in the spinal cord (right on down from the brain stem). It killed off selected ones, left some and damaged others. The polio survivor learned to compensate, allowing the damaged neurons to take over the extra burden of those killed off. In later years, those damaged neurons became over used along with the aging process and new battle began. “Post-Polio Syndrome” became another battle for the polio survivor to deal with.
I was once heavily involved in tobacco abuse but through the years found it was saturated with many, many websites and support groups and often times these groups and websites refused to collaborate with one another but to compete. For me I began to get frustrated that I wasn’t really helping anyone and there were plenty of others happy to step in and fill the void I might have left.
I come to realize, after getting to know Dr. Richard Bruno (the world’s top most expert in PPS), observing outdated websites and reading posts in only a handful of existing FB Support Groups, maybe my help could be worthwhile. Now I would like to concentrate my efforts on all I can to let other polio survivors know they are not alone. We are one community and we need to stand together, help one another an forget petty disagreements. Non-profit Organizations need to be scrutinized carefully, very carefully when they claim they are helping Polio Survivors. Donations to any organization should be carefully thought out and researched.
Even at my age, I am still learning, I make mistakes, lots of mistakes but I will NEVER allow family, friends and my beliefs along with polio survivors to be abused or misled in anyway if I can possibly help it.
Okay, I have kept those reading this for way too long. I do tend to ramble but will try to keep this blog going and announce any updates to my (almost like a child to me) website, “Polio Survivors of the 21st Century“.
One last thing, I have bad grammar, my spelling is not always good even with spell check, I often put my foot in my mouth with some of my writing and worse……I have a sarcastic dry sense of humor. Just wanted to warn y’all.
Respectfully,
Bubba (James)
“To Thine Own Self Be True”
Bubba's Blog 