Jim Smith was totally paralyzed from the neck down at age 2. His parents were told “the hospital is full - take him home”. Jim has his own special perspective to life with the effects of this terrible virus.

It was the summer of 1952 and our country was in the middle of its worst polio epidemic since 1916. Nearly 58,000 cases of polio were reported and more than 3,000 died. I was lucky.

One August day I was outside in front of our home playing hopscotch with some of the other girls in the neighborhood, when I realized I did not feel well. A few days later, my right arm was paralyzed.

I am an “inapparent” (often referred to as ‘non-paralytic’) polio survivor with PPS. My post-polio journey was long, painful and truly confusing. There was diagnosis, frightening mis-diagnosis and an enormous amount of self-doubt. Carol Ferguson

In 1999, we began meeting in Branson, Missouri for a weekend of information and entertainment in 1999. I set off with my friend Jan Jacobsen for our 25th gathering. It was bittersweet, as we knew it would be our last one.

“I don’t want people to ever forget how vaccines continue to save generations across the globe from polio.” Ina’s Story - from Shotbyshot.org

Who knew that traveling between each other’s homes would bring two survivors together in such a meaningful way.

The nurses rolled all the stretchers and wheelchairs as close as they could around the small TV. We all went wild when the Beatles sang their number one song, “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” It was a welcome reprieve from our pain and the long recovery we all had to endure.

“I was always the outsider,” she said. “I was always the kid that ate alone.” Other kids referred to her as the “crippled girl.” Leana S. Wen for the Washington Post

“I HAD polio and now I’m living with the late effects of that terrible virus. There’s no denying it. “

I could not move anything except one eyelid; even the muscles controlling my eyeballs went limp and my eyes just rolled around aimlessly. I could not breathe, swallow, talk, or move. I was only eight.

The world will keep on twirling whether you are happy or unhappy. It's up to you to have a good life.

His three months in the hospital included an iron lung, a rocking bed and painful physical therapy. He learned how to stay positive in the face of adversity.

Thomas Fetterman caught polio when he was 8. He needed an iron lung. Despite his many challenges he always looks for the positive aspects of his experiences.

My parents decided to volunteer our entire family (themselves included), feeling strongly that it was the right thing to do.

Marny Eulberg may have retired, but she is far from finished with her volunteer and humanitarian efforts. She is proving day by day, that anything is possible, no matter what physical limitations you may have.

His parents would have given anything for their son to have had a vaccine to prevent polio.