Suddenly I couldn't breathe. I was paralyzed from the waist down with acute poliomyelitis and I now feared my diaphragms were affected. The doctors at the rehabilitation center specializing in this nationwide epidemic had already warned my parents I would never walk, even though I felt some sensation coming back in my right leg. I could hear the muffled mechanical sounds from the next ward. In the adjoining room were the "iron lungs" for completely paralyzed children to assist with their respiration in hopes they would recover the ability to inhale before they expired. The boys I saw sent to the respirator room never came back. I knew my next stop was the dreaded "death ward". I was for years old and worried I would not live to be five.
