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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: GRADUATE (08/01/19)
When Janice, my sixteen-year-old best friend, fell ill one morning, she didn't attend school but tried to find comfort in her darkened bedroom. Since she complained of a headache and feeling too warm, her mother took Janice's temperature throughout the day and night.

By morning, when her thermometer registered 102 degrees, her mother made an immediate appointment with the family's physician. By then, Janice was also losing muscle control.

"Mom, my arms feel floppy. I can hardly lift them," Janice said as
her mother helped her dress.

"It's probably just the flu, honey. Don't worry. Dr. Zoltowski will have you feeling better in no time."

Dr. Zoltowski had treated the medical needs of Janice and her family for many years and was easily regarded as the most capable and respected physician in town.

After a cursory examination, he asked the nurse to help Janice dress while he left the room to speak privately with Janice's mother.

"If my suspicions are correct", he said, "Janice has Polio. I want her admitted to the hospital immediately. Since Polio is highly contagious in its earliest stages, we'll call for an ambulance and you can follow behind in your car. My nurse will phone the hospital now to make all the arrangements. I'll come by this afternoon after my office closes.

Dr.Zoltowski hugged the trembling, weeping woman and walked her
back to the examination room where Janice was waiting. Janice listened as the doctor explained the need for tests at the hospital to rule out anything serious or contagious. The word "Polio" was carefully avoided in the conversation.

At the hospital, tests were immediately conducted and Janice was placed in solitary confinement with a "QUARANTINED. DO NOT ENTER" sign attached to the outside of the door.

The next morning, with her mother and father standing by her bedside, Dr. Zoltowski and a neurologist explained the diagnosis to Janice and the treatment she would receive. When the words "Polio" and "Iron Lung" were finally spoken aloud, Janice began to cry.

"I'll admit I'm scared to death," she said through her tears,"but I gave my heart to Jesus when I was eleven years old so I know He'll be with me through this. Daddy, will you pray for me now that God will help me to be brave and that He will heal me?"

The doctors remained through the prayer, then excused themselves so the parents could console their stricken daughter.

Janice's mother phoned me that night to tell me the news. Janice and I had been best friends since first grade when we were assigned seats beside each other in the classroom. Our families attended the same church which helped to cement our friendship.

The first time I was permitted to visit Janice in the hospital, she was ensconced in a massive, intimidating iron lung, with only her head visible. The size and structure of this metal vibrating machine were so disturbing and frightening that I could barely speak.

But we tried to cheer each other up by reliving humorous events from our long friendship. Before leaving and at her request, I read from the Bible, then placing my hand on her forehead, I prayed for my dearest friend.

Janice desperately wanted to complete high school so when she began to improve, I began bringing my textbooks and homework assignments to the hospital every afternoon after school. After discussing the material, I would record her answers to the homework questions and return them to her teachers the next day.

At the end of our senior year, her teachers verbally tested her at the rehab center and she passed every subject with good grades.

Three hours before the graduation ceremony at school, Janice's teachers, the principal, family members, some friends, her doctors, and a few nurses arrived at her room bringing a black graduation gown and mortar board cap. Her high school diploma, matted and framed, was securely placed on the machine above her head where she could easily read it.

A short speech was given by the valedictorian, then everyone joined in singing their school's song, followed by the familiar "Amazing Grace."

Two years later, Janice stood upright and unaided before the magnificent throne of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to hear these words, "You have fought a good fight, you have finished the course and kept the faith. Here is your crown of righteousness. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord." *

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*Based on 2nd Timothy 4:7-8 and Matthew 25:21 (KJV)
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This article has been read 808 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Corinne Smelker 
08/08/19
WOW! As a 'youngster' I do not know anyone personally who lived through that era. What a compelling story, so well told, and definitely fit the topic.
Rachel Burkum
08/08/19
So touching throughout! A great entry for the topic, and though sad, I absolutely loved the ending.
Laurie Glass 
08/09/19
Even though what happened was sad, I enjoyed this well-told story. And you held my attention throughout. Well done.
Barbara Culler 
08/09/19
This gave me goosebumps, and then tears. I was a young child when the polio vaccine came out. I still have the pox mark scar.
Verna Cole Mitchell 
08/10/19
Your sad story was told in a beautiful manner. What a gift of friendship you gave to her, and what a glorious final graduation she had. She made a profound impression on you, and her through you on me.
Betty Castleberry
08/12/19
What a bittersweet story told exceedingly well. It left me teary-eyed, but I know the friend had the best graduation ever in Heaven.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
08/13/19
I'm too young to have been a part of the polio scare, but remember my mom and grandma talking about it. You did a great job of bringing it to life. The only suggestion I might make would be to make the beginning pop a bit more. For example, start off with the high fever, then sprinkle some of the back story throughout the entire story. The ending was really powerful. There are so many great messages in this piece and different people will be touched in many different ways. That's not easy to do, but is a sign of a skilled writer. Good job.
Joanney Uthe 
08/15/19
My great-aunt and my father-in-law both had polio as kids and lived to deal with the disabling results into adulthood.

What a beautiful story of your friend's perseverance and desire to graduation. Both graduations were beautiful.