Posted by Hamish TURNER on Aug 29, 2018
Having seen the article on Polio in the RC –AA   and in particular the photo of the hospital ward – sent me on a   “..trip down memory lane..” I lived through a Polio outbreak in Durban (South Africa) in 1956/57.
 
My brother / sister and I all contracted this disease and were hospitalised in Addington -- Addington being one of the major hospitals at the time in Durban.

The children’s ward was exactly as it was in the photograph in that article. Beds all in very close proximity and boys mixed in with girls. (Would have been great say 10 years later!)
 
I do recall several events and a number of the details. One boy in particular took great delight in standing in his cot and seeing how far he could urinate into his neighbour’s bed. That was every time he need to go to the toilet and this went on for days.
 
My other recollection was seeing  a large contraption through the open doorway and into the next ward. This contraption  looked like a larger version of one of my toy cars. This was an Iron Lung – and there were several.

Not sure what the make of my car was – but it was one of those large American sedans – and rounded in shape.
 
Not sure how long we all stayed in hospital – but I do recall walking out – with some difficulty. My brother and sister were carried out.
 
We were extremely fortunate and got over this to go on and live a physically very active life.
 
The lady in the Iron Lung lived in our neighbourhood and remained in a wheelchair for as long as I knew her. I don’t recall her name – but did see her occasionally over the next few years.
 

 
Thanks goodness for Rotary and the extraordinary effort to rid the world of this terrible disease. It is so rare these days that our Physical Trainer (aged around 28) had never heard of this disease.
 
Join me and Rotary to End Polio Now