How Surviving Polio Has Impacted My Personality

By Abha Khetarpal

Polio, which caused the asymmetrical freezing of my muscles, not only shaped my body, but also moulded my personality. A virus — something that itself exists on the border between being alive and dead — had the power to write the manuscript of my life.

I got polio at the age of three. I don’t have too many memories of the initial period of the infection except for the pain caused by lumber puncture, a procedure to collect and examine cerebrospinal fluid, for which a needle used to be inserted into my spinal canal.

Then started the long and tiring journey of life with a permanent disability. I was different from other children because I had to wear orthotic devices and could not be part of my peer group. The hospital ward, where I had to spend long months for various corrective surgeries, became my school. I literally grew up in a medical environment.

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