My name is Eileen Grubba and I have been living with, being a polio survivor since I was 4 years old. We had vaccinations for school and about 30 days later, I was running through the park with my sister doing flips, goofing off and suddenly I did a flip, I landed and couldn't feel my legs anymore. It took years for me to understand really what happened then. Being so young, all I knew was that there was something wrong with me. And my siblings were all angry at me for it. And that our family was in trouble because I was sick. That's all I knew. So the thought that kept going through my head is I have to get better, so everyone will be happy again. And that was the thought that drove me. By the time I was 13, 14 years old, I started having surgeries to rebuild my ankles and feet. When I was presented with either we rebuild this ankle again or chop it off, I thought, "No, there's got to be another solution." I know my body. I know where it hurts the most and what I can do to ease it a little bit and so I explained this to one of their engineers, "If my foot's in this position, it hurts less. Can't you build something like that?" And he said, "Yeah, let me try." So we made some adjustments and ended up with this brace that kind of goes with an incline and it keeps the pain down. You've got, on one hand, people who understand and want to help but they're pushing you in ways that aren't helpful and on the other hand, you have people who don't understand it and they're afraid of it and they treat you in a whole another way. The hardest part sometimes of dealing with an illness that severely alters your body where it's functioning is dealing with other people. You know, I can't change the way people think but I can change the way I think. What I do to keep this problem at bay for me is I keep in shape. I work out a few days a week. I hike a few days a week. I eat very healthy. I eat very, very healthy to keep my weight low. I don't take any medications for pain because I worry about my kidneys and my organs and I'd rather just be as pure and healthy as I can be. And that's about it, keep my spirits up and keep moving. When I come across someone who is just about to deal with a debilitating illness, something that is going to stop their body from functioning, the only thing I can tell them to do is just keep looking for an answer, keep finding a way because there always is a way to function even it's different than what you're used to. You will find a way if you keep trying, if you really want to.
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