Carol Ferguson: In Our Own Words

Carol was only two when she had the "summer flu“. She got better on her own, no doctor was ever called. As she aged, she was weary from stumbling and falling and of being in pain all the time. In her mid 30’s, she had a bad fall that required surgery and had what was a significant and “unusual” reaction to the anesthesia. That reaction began a ten year process of discovery. During her third painful EMG, she learned that it wasn't just the flu. Carol was diagnosed as having the damage to her neurons that proved the existence of an “old” polio.

Even when he saw her braced and dependent on a cane, her father died never having said the word Polio. Finally, at 90 years of age, her mother revealed that deep down, they always knew it was polio. All those years, they pretended it wasn't true and blamed themselves.

As a result of Post-Polio Syndrome, Carol is now permanently disabled from a “mild” or “inapparent” case of the poliovirus.