Monday, June 30, 2008

CELEBRITY SIGHTING!


Hey look - it is the March of Dimes Poster Child all grown up! Dan Moury and his lovely wife Carolyn were out and about in Newton, NC yesterday and I was the paparazzi!

Actually, just prior to taking this photo, I was in the Catawba County Museum of History with other members of a very interested audience hanging on to every word that came out of Dan's mouth.

In 1944, at age 9 Dan was a patient in the Miracle of Hickory emergency polio hospital. The following year he posed with his nurse for a photograph which served as a model for this poster.

Dan's father took 8mm color film of various aspects of the emergency hospital, spliced the footage, added titles, and took them to clubs and civic groups around the state in the years following our epidemic.

Dan is a superb speaker with a relaxed manner and with the assistance of Catawba County History Museum Director, Melinda Herzog, he narrated the silent film for us.

The audience was perfectly lovely as well. There was a great turnout of locals who remembered the epidemic as well as some younger folks who, like me, discovered it recently through BLUE.

Best of all, there were a number of former patients from the hospital. I hope I can connect with some of them very soon. They might not be celebrities but their stories have enriched my life and I would love to explore them further.
The next Miracle of Hickory event is coming on July 12. The paparazzi will be there. Stay tuned for more info!

9 comments:

  1. This was a very good presentation. Jeff and I enjoyed seeing the film, and I thought he and Melinda did a great job together.

    It amazed me that his dad was such a pioneer in technology at that time. I think someone ought to talk him into doing a voiceover and turn the film, or a portion of it, into a digital story. It would be a shame not to connect his voice permanently to the story that is so much a part of his life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was great to see you there! I missed getting to chat with you.

    And yes, wasn't he great?! Hmmmm I'll have to pass your suggestion on to him.

    I'll tell him to read the blog and your comment!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hate I missed this one but I'm staying tuned for info on the next event.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amy, see you at the next event. But watch out for the paparazzi! YOu could end up on YouTube,

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can't wait to see and hear more. It's so great to see survivors like Dan, and my mother. I'm curious as to how much of the Post-Polio Syndrome Dan has experienced. My mother is a text-book case.

    And thank you, Joyce for your beautiful book!

    ReplyDelete
  6. As I understand it PP is an issue for him. And for just about every polio I talk to. They were told to "use it or lose it" but now they are learning to conserve their energy.

    Is your mom part of a support group?

    ReplyDelete
  7. No support group. What they've told her is that when she regained the use of her legs, it was actually only 25% of her muscle taking the weight of everything else that was lost. But that would be typical of her tenacious spirit. So after 40 years or so, that remaining muscle just gets too darn tired. She has a lot of other vascular issues that are probably related as well. She actually participated in the Mayo Clinic's study on PPS.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What an amazing chain of events, Joyce, and a chain of people who are now coming out to tell the story. Somehow I believe this is more than all the pieces in these times...perhaps a word of hope and of warning. Now that new viruses and epidemics are showing up worldwide, the story of these brave children and their caretakers is important. You are a trail-blazer, Joyce!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks Deborah - not sure if I'm a trail blazer but I like the sound of it.

    ReplyDelete