Photo: Courtesy Rotarian Larry Nelson. Marlena Holland (left) joined Rotarian Brenda Nelson (right) and her fellow club members for a presentation marking World Polio Day in October.
Mountain Home Rotary Club marked World Polio Day in October with guest speaker Marlena Holland, a Twin Lakes area resident who has lived with the disease for over 70 years.
World Polio Day is set aside to celebrate Rotary’s successes in eradicating the disease and a time to strengthen its resolve to get the job done.
Rotarian Brenda Nelson introduced Holland, who at 5 years old in 1949 was stricken with polio.
Unable to deal with her case in Mountain Home, doctors first sent her to Arkansas Children’s Hospital, which was full, leading her to be transferred to Baptist Hospital in Little Rock.
During her stay at Baptist Hospital, Holland was placed in a large isolation ward with those who were bedridden and those in iron lungs.
When she first arrived, she was completely paralyzed and could only move her eyes. As she spoke with Rotarians during her recent presentation, she recalled how hard it was to be quarantined with so many children who, like herself, were suffering.
To keep her muscles loose and active, she was given pool and hot blanket treatments. She was even given a polio shot, in the hope it might ward off further disability.
Back at home, she was given often-painful exercises her mother had to help her do, but they eventually helped Holland become mobile again. By hard work and determination, she was able to begin first grade in only leg braces. At age 8, she had the first of five surgeries to strengthen and straighten her limbs. Over the years, Holland has used braces, crutches, canes, walkers and transport chairs – but nothing has stopped her.
As an adult in the mid-80s, Holland had a successful career as a secretary and computer operator for the U.S. Navy in California. But, during that time, she was diagnosed with “post-polio syndrome,” a result of the more severe cases in children or young adults.
Her physician advised she needed to rest her muscles, rather than exercise them – a “conserve and preserve” therapy.
By the mid-90s, she began to suffer from chronic fatigue and pain. In 1999, she said her faith in God gave her a miraculous healing from the pain, which has never really returned.
Later Marlena, her husband, Michael, and their three children returned to the Mountain Home area, where she has learned to deal with the progression of her disease.
Today, she still takes almost no medications, and she is generally pain-free, but her body continues to “shift and twist,” her voice has become weaker, and she has developed some shaking in her limbs. Yet, with all she’s been through, this strong and determined wife and mother will tell you she is a “blessed woman.”
She told the club members during her presentation it would mean the world to her if Rotary could erase polio from the face of the earth.
Rotarian Nelson says Holland’s story informed and inspired Rotary members in their efforts to continue the fight against this dreadful disease.
Nelson says they encourage others to help them “End Polio Now” with tax-deductible donations to the “PolioPlus” fund at rotary.org/en/donate.
When Rotary International made its goal to rid the earth of polio, the disease had not been present in the United States since the mid-50s. But, it was still a killer and crippler around the globe.
In 1985, when Rotary’s “PolioPlus” began, there were 1,000 new cases of polio in the world every day – 355,000 cases each year.
In 2019, thanks to the efforts of Rotary and its private and government partners, there have been less than 40 cases throughout the world this entire year.
Nelson says, “We’re this close to a polio-free world. The only way to accomplish this is for Rotary and its partners to immunize every child born each year. Even warring countries around the globe will call for a temporary truce – “Days of Tranquility” – to allow volunteers to immunize their children. Rotary’s hope is one day we’ll see an end to polio.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI