Polio and Post-Polio Disabled Now Needing Disability Grant To Make House Accessible

by Josie Jo Le Page
(Portland, OR, USA)

I was a toddler when I got polio, just before the vaccine came out in 1954. I was struck in the right leg, and started off wearing baby shoes with a bar holding the feet in a certain position. Later I was moved to the metal brace so that I could walk. As a young child I thought that I was lucky and that there was really nothing wrong with me.

Between the ages of 4 and 12, I had two operations, moving tendons around, and putting staples in my foot. I was out of a brace when I started High School. I still had to watch it because the bones in my right foot were aging faster than the rest of my body, but I felt normal.

From the time of my birth till high school, my Dad work two and sometimes three jobs to keep us afloat and to pay for my braces and operations. We didn't have health insurance to help with any of the braces or operations and my Dad was too proud to ask for help. Only my Mother asked once from our temple for assistance with a brace. My Dad paid for everything else.

I lived about 20 years without the brace, the whole time hearing about Post-Polio, thinking I don't have to worry about it. I worked hard from when I was a young kid through my adult life, doing mostly physical labor.

I got married and had two children. Then in my 30s my leg started to give me problems. I had to start wearing a brace again. Then in my 50s I had to have surgery again to repair a deformed heel. At that time I found out that the bones in my foot looked like they were about 70 years old.

I worked until the end of last year (2008), when I could not work anymore due to fatigue and more. I have just been approved for Disability, and I'm waiting for the final stages.

I do have a house and it is getting harder to shower in the tub we have, cook simple meals, or do the laundry due to the stairs. We need to make the house handicap friendly.

We need close to $70,000 to have the work done and buy the appliances we need. I do not see any way we can get it. My spouse is out of work and we contacted our mortgage company to work with us on lowering our payment.

Like my Dad I am not accustomed to asking for help. All thru my life I have taken care of my family and myself. But I cannot do it anymore. We are also without health insurance and have no family to turn to for assistance.

I want to thank you for taking the time to read this.

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