Love and Laughter: Coping With Polio

Like most of us, Jean Phillips grew from her experiences. Unlike most of us, she had to face the world with a visible disability that often was met with false assumptions about who she was. The story she tells reveals a courageous woman who, in spite of significant challenges, has raised three daughters with dedication and love, and has worked tirelessly to help others in need. Jean was stricken with polio when she was four years old, just missing the benefits of Dr. J. Salk’s great battle to end the disease that had crippled and killed countless American children. She spent much of her childhood in hospitals, enduring surgeries and other treatments that were used then in an attempt to restore mobility to paralyzed limbs. Her family was shattered when her mother died during her senior year of high school. Lacking guidance and maturity, she began to assert her independence. After two lonely marriages, she and two of her young daughters followed a man to Michigan, as she continued to look for “true love.” Upon returning to California, Jean committed herself to helping people, starting with volunteering in the special education classroom of her youngest daughter and joining several Boards serving people with a variety of disabilities. In Love and Laughter: Coping with Polio, she traces her story to the present day, and describes her newest challenge: the devastating effects of Post Polio Syndrome and a fall that has left her immobilized.

“When you are different on the outside, people think you’re different on the inside, too. It makes it hard to survive in the world when you’re not like everyone else.” These words were spoken by Jean Phillips, who has battled polio since 1952. She has gone from leg braces and crutches to a wheelchair, and now to a life in bed.