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<p>This is on the front page of reddit right now and getting a lot of attention. I thought I would share. I really honestly believe that vaccines are a "victim of their own success". Television producers have messaged and contacted this woman and I hope she gets further publicity. Her mother had her when she was young (19) and didn't vaccinate her against Polio. She has said in the AMA that she believes she got it from a swimming pool, as 20 other children in her same neighborhood all came down with polio around the same time. Suffice it to say, she's not very sympathetic to the anti-vaccine movement. Here are a couple pictures she posted of herself. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.mothering.com/community/content/type/61/id/327729/"><img alt="" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="327729" data-type="61" src="http://www.mothering.com/community/content/type/61/id/327729/width/200/height/400" style="; width: 200px; height: 400px"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.mothering.com/community/content/type/61/id/327730/"><img alt="" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="327730" data-type="61" src="http://www.mothering.com/community/content/type/61/id/327730/width/200/height/400" style="; width: 200px; height: 400px"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here are some of the Qs and Answers: </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Q: Have you ever thought of "going public"? I say Reddit should lobby for you to be a guest on The View.</p>
<p>A: I would for sure, haha! The situation needs to have some more attention brought to it. I don't think parents completely understand the consequences of not vaccinating.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Q: In what year, at what age did you contract the disease?</p>
<p>A: <span style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">I was 4-5 and contracted it in 1959-1960. I remember the day that I first came down with the virus, and I had to walk home from school for an hour. When I got home I couldn't stand up anymore, and my mother was in tears begging me to stand up and try to walk. Times were different..</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">Q: </span>If it's not too intrusive or sad: what is the one thing you wish you could have done if it wasn't for your polio (or the results of it)?</p>
<p>A: I wish I could run. I wish I could ride a bicycle. I wish I could take my dogs for a walk. I wish I could walk without crutches. Most of all, I wish that people would see me for the person I am inside, rather than see me for my prior-disease.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Q: How does your mum feel about this now anyway?</p>
<p>A:<span style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">My mother is dead now. But she carried the guilt for the rest of her life. It truly broke her heart. It was like a prison sentence.. Because she was a 23 year old single mother, she was shunned from the community, and seeing as though the area we lived in was really devoutly Catholic it didn't help. Other childrens' parents refused to let them hang out with me because I was a bastard and because of the polio (after it was gone, mind you).. It just broke her heart that she put me through that inadvertently.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;">I miss her more than anything.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;"> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;">Extremely interesting yet sad AMA. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;"><span style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;"><a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/21a0si/iama_58_year_old_woman_who_contracted_polio/" target="_blank">http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/21a0si/iama_58_year_old_woman_who_contracted_polio/</a></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;"> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.mothering.com/community/content/type/61/id/327729/"><img alt="" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="327729" data-type="61" src="http://www.mothering.com/community/content/type/61/id/327729/width/200/height/400" style="; width: 200px; height: 400px"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.mothering.com/community/content/type/61/id/327730/"><img alt="" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="327730" data-type="61" src="http://www.mothering.com/community/content/type/61/id/327730/width/200/height/400" style="; width: 200px; height: 400px"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here are some of the Qs and Answers: </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Q: Have you ever thought of "going public"? I say Reddit should lobby for you to be a guest on The View.</p>
<p>A: I would for sure, haha! The situation needs to have some more attention brought to it. I don't think parents completely understand the consequences of not vaccinating.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Q: In what year, at what age did you contract the disease?</p>
<p>A: <span style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">I was 4-5 and contracted it in 1959-1960. I remember the day that I first came down with the virus, and I had to walk home from school for an hour. When I got home I couldn't stand up anymore, and my mother was in tears begging me to stand up and try to walk. Times were different..</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">Q: </span>If it's not too intrusive or sad: what is the one thing you wish you could have done if it wasn't for your polio (or the results of it)?</p>
<p>A: I wish I could run. I wish I could ride a bicycle. I wish I could take my dogs for a walk. I wish I could walk without crutches. Most of all, I wish that people would see me for the person I am inside, rather than see me for my prior-disease.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Q: How does your mum feel about this now anyway?</p>
<p>A:<span style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">My mother is dead now. But she carried the guilt for the rest of her life. It truly broke her heart. It was like a prison sentence.. Because she was a 23 year old single mother, she was shunned from the community, and seeing as though the area we lived in was really devoutly Catholic it didn't help. Other childrens' parents refused to let them hang out with me because I was a bastard and because of the polio (after it was gone, mind you).. It just broke her heart that she put me through that inadvertently.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;">I miss her more than anything.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;"> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;">Extremely interesting yet sad AMA. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;"><span style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;"><a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/21a0si/iama_58_year_old_woman_who_contracted_polio/" target="_blank">http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/21a0si/iama_58_year_old_woman_who_contracted_polio/</a></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;"> </p>