CPOY

Award of Excellence: THE PATIENS OF POLIO

In the years 1952-53, a violent polio epidemic rolled over Denmark - the worst ever in Europe. Around 7,000 Danes became ill – the vast majority of them children. Just under 350 of them died, and the survivors suffered irreversible paralysis in their bodies. Today, the children of the polio epidemic have grown old. Their lives have been marked by an illness that disabled them, but also made them resilient.

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Slide 7 of 8
Lis Kirkesø, 78-years-old
February 22, 2023

"At the age of 7 I got polio and the ambulance took me to the hospital. There wasn't even a window in the tiny room I was put in. My parents weren't allowed to visit me and I didn't understand why. Sometimes there were three physiotherapists pulling on this little frail girl's body at once."

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