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Show March of Dimes Gives Aid To Polio Victim "Polio Is still polio but treatment treat-ment and care have certainly changed," says Thomas Najjar, 21-year-old University of Notre Dame student. Najjar speaks with authority for he is a two-time two-time victim of infantile paralysis. Najjar is in a position to make an interesting contrast for he was first strucken in 1938, the year the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis and the March otr Dimes, first came Into being I and "pitifully little : was known about die disease. His second attack came in mid-September mid-September of 1952, as the National Nation-al Foundation and its hundreds of thousands of volunteers reached a crest In the 15-year fight against this epidemic disease. dis-ease. Tom, a senior and an honor student at Notre Dame, is from Birmingham, Ala. His brother Charles is a sophomore on the South Bend campus. Recall Earlier Attack . From his hospital bed In the campus infirmary, Tom recalled hrs earlier borut' With polio and his long struggle for recovery which was still under way when the disease overtook him a second sec-ond time. "I remember," he said, '"that I was cared lor at home by my mother for some time and was later hospitalized. I was paralyzed para-lyzed from the waisf down and was placed in a cast for six weeks." It was two years before Tom was able to walk at all and then he got around with the aid of braces on both legs, a waistband waist-band and crutches. He missed two years of school but made them up. Therapy treatment for polio patients wasn't practiced much in those days, and largely on his own determination, and the encouragement of his family, Tom gradually improved and in 19-16 threw away his crutches. In recent years he has been manag-ing manag-ing very well with one leg brace and a cane. Family Paid Bill In 1938 there wasn't any March of Dimes funds set up for patient care, and the heavy initial init-ial expense of Tom's treatment was borne by the family. This time, although he is less seriously ser-iously afflicted, the March of Dimes is helping him in every way possible. It's his left arm that's affected this time, but with daily therapy thera-py treatments Tom expects to regain full use of it. As a student, stu-dent, Tom is not charged for his stay at the student infirmary but the National Foundation Is paying for his daily treatments and transportation to a South Bend hospital. His case is on the rolls of his home National Foun-dation Foun-dation chapter in Jefferson County, Coun-ty, Ala., which will continue to aid him as long as he needs treatment. |
