A survivor, Kooiker urges on final push to eliminate polio

(Photo contributed) Dixie Kooiker, of Le Mars, was hospitalized with polio when she was 3 years old -- shown in this picture with her mother in the polio ward -- and still suffers from effects of the virus today. She recently spoke to the Le Mars Rotary Club, which is joining a worldwide fight to finish eradicating polio. [Click to enlarge]

Hospitalized in the Sister Kenny Polio Institute in June 1949, Kooiker was in a crib next to her infant cousin and in the room across from her uncle, both who had polio.

Kooiker was the only one of the three to survive.

Dixie Kooiker

But the Le Mars woman still battles with the disease's effects today.

"Once you have polio, you always have polio," Kooiker said in a presentation to the Le Mars Rotary Club. "It's a lifelong illness."

Joining the charge with Rotary International, the local club is working to reach the goal of entirely eradicating polio in the world.

Rotary is a service organization for professionals of all ages.

In 1985 Rotary Clubs around the world began the battle to eliminate polio through vaccinations.

Now, with only four countries left to go -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria -- they want to finish the job.

"The idea is to get the last one," said Chris Becker, president of the local Rotary Club.

With that focus in mind, Rotary members asked Kooiker to share her story.

The polio virus, she said, can cause paralysis of the legs, chest and arms, making walking and breathing difficult, if not impossible.

In June of 1949, Kooiker's parents saw symptoms of polio in her -- weak, lethargic muscles, a stiff neck, a fever and a sore throat.

At the doctor's office, her parents made her lie still for a spinal tap -- promising a whole pack of gum when it was finished.

The test result: positive.

They raced Kooiker to a polio institute in Minneapolis, 125 miles away from their home in Bricelyn, Minn.

"They were panic-stricken," Kooiker said. "Polio can cause paralysis within hours of onset."

For three weeks, the young girl was kept in the institute's contagious ward, and no one from the outside could visit for at least three weeks -- including her parents.

Kooiker remembers another 3-year-old in the ward, Roxanne, who helped pass the time. The girls even stuck crayons in their noses and tried to color pictures with them.

"We had no comprehension of how sick we were, and we were very bored," she said.

They watched nurses push patients in iron lungs -- machines that helped polio victims who no longer had the muscle capability to breathe.

Kooiker was treated with the methods of Sister Elizabeth Kenny, a woman from Australia who earned the title "sister" not from a religious order but a medical corps.

Kenny developed a way of treating polio victims that was a sharp contrast to the traditional method of stabilizing polio-weakened limbs by putting them in wooden splints.

Instead, she encouraged exercise and stretching, also putting hot compresses on the afflicted limbs.

"Her philosophy was to keep using the muscles," Kooiker said.

Four months after Kooiker was diagnosed, she returned home.

Life was very changed, she said.

"Soaking in hot water heated on a wood stove I soothed my weakened body three times a day for months," Kooiker recalled.

She did stretching exercises and rode a large tricycle around the kitchen table so much she wore through the linoleum. She continues an exercise regimen today -- minus the tricycle.

Her doctor prescribed special high-topped shoes with high arches and different thicknesses of heels to accommodate her polio-stricken legs.

With physical activity, Kooiker faced weakness or cramps and her body demanded more sleep.

She and Roxanne ended up graduating from high school together.

When they were young adults, Roxanne -- who walked on crutches for the rest of her life and underwent several surgeries -- died from polio side effects.

"By the late 1980s I began to experience Post Polio Syndrome (PPS) symptoms," Kooiker said.

For people with PPS, a syndrome that affects some polio victims later in life, muscles are vulnerable to fatigue easily and react poorly to stress.

Kooiker also developed sleep apnea because her throat muscles were weakened.

Knowing her own experience, Kooiker said it is wonderful that Rotary International has helped eradicate polio to such an extensive level.

Her treatment with Sister Kenny and rehabilitation were a blessing compared to what is available in countries where epidemic polio conditions still exist, she added.

Hearing Kooiker speak about having polio was one of the best programs the local Rotary Club has had, Becker said.

"It really impacted all the members," he said. "It made them understand how important this kind of work is and that it does affect people. It still has a profound affect on Dixie's daily life even now."

Becker was born just before the vaccine came out, so he could have contracted polio.

"To hear someone close in age and hear what she went through was very touching," he said.

Knowing someone who has lived with polio brought the message home, he said.

"We've been involved in this program and we think, 'Yeah it's a good thing, we should do it,' but you really don't have any personal connection," he said. "When you know someone it has affected, it's a whole nother thing."

When Rotary International came out with plans to raise $120 million to eradicate polio, it was a big announcement, Becker said.

"At the time it was a very ambitious project," he said. "Rotary had done a lot of humanitarian type projects, community service projects, but on a worldwide basis, nothing like this had ever been attempted before."

In the end, the organization raised double its goal.

The fight against polio continues today.

More than 2 billion people worldwide have been vaccinated for polio, thanks in part to the efforts of Rotary International.

Rotarians participate in administering the vaccine, along with worldwide health workers.

The disease has been all but eradicated.

Only the four remaining regions are still "endemic" countries, with polio passing regularly among its citizens, Becker said.

"A lot of those regions are tribal areas where it's hard to operate," he said.

The Le Mars Rotary Club set a goal of donating $40 per person toward eliminating polio worldwide.

With 38 members, the local group is looking to donate more than $1,500.

That could pay for some 2,500 people to receive the polio vaccine.

Anyone can donate to the cause, Becker said.

Those interested can contact local Rotarians like Becker or Angela Kneip.

They can also visit Rotary's website www.rotary.org to give or donate $5 to the cause by sending a text message to 90999 reading "POLIO."