‘It’s like having CPR 24/7’: Savoy woman shares polio survival story, urges vaccination
SAVOY, Ill. (WCIA) — Polio used to be one of the most feared diseases in the United States, especially during the height of the epidemic in the 1950s. Now, it’s making headlines again.
Paul Alexander, a Texas man, recently died after living in an iron lung most of his life. But, right in Central Illinois, there’s one woman who knows that feeling all too well.
One morning in 1952, Phyllis Kemnetz woke up with what she called “a mother of all migraines.” Little did she know, that was about to change her entire life.
“All my senses were heightened, all the way up my spine,” she described.
Her mom knew it was time to call the doctor, who made a house call to her Arcola home one Sunday right after church.
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“He took one look at me and went to the phone and called an ambulance…I guess I had turned blue,” Kemnetz said.
She was 14 years old at the time and was rushed to Mercy Hospital in Urbana. It’s now OSF Heart of Mary. When she arrived, the first step was a spinal tap.
“My muscles had stiffened so that I couldn’t bend,” Kemnetz said. “They had to get the spinal fluid any way they could.. and it was excruciating.”
That unlocked the dreaded answer, and she later woke up in the polio ward.
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“The initial disease starts like a flu-like illness,” Dr. Albert England with OSF said. “Maybe a quarter of people are affected. A fraction of those get neurologic symptoms a couple weeks later.”
Kemnetz was experiencing symptoms and having trouble breathing. Next thing you know, she woke up in an iron lung. It’s a device that controls the air pressure around the body, helping the lungs expand.
“I didn’t know where I was, what it was. You have a rubber collar that is under your chin,” she said. “It’s like having CPR 24/7. Very uncomfortable.”
She can’t remember how long she was in it but thinks about one month, which is the majority of the time she was in the hospital. After being released and learning how to walk again, she was on the road to recovery.
But, things started getting tough again in 1985.
“Post-polio has hit my hands. They look nice, but don’t work together either,” the polio survivor described.
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She can’t grasp items easily, but it’s a much better outcome than doctors originally predicted. At first, they told her she’d never walk again, have children, or live past 30.
But, Kemnetz did all those things. Plus, she even donated blood to help create the first polio vaccine. It’s something she’s still pushing for, even 72 years later.
“It’s a lifelong disease. You get the onslaught of polio and later, chances are you’re going to get post-polio. It doesn’t go away,” she explained.
She said it also impacted her mental health and experienced PTSD. Just a few years ago, it was difficult to get a CT scan without thinking back to the iron lung.
Since 1988, the CDC has reported polio cases around the world have decreased by 99%. When it comes to how you can protect yourself, Dr. England said the vaccine is the best way to prevent the spread. Polio is very contagious without it.
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