"Twin Voices" by Janice Flood Nichols, provides a unique and timely glimpse into polio, a virus that killed and maimed millions of children and adults during the twentieth century.
In 1953, polio struck DeWitt, NY (an eastern suburb of Syracuse) with a vengeance. In a first grade class of twenty-four students, eight children contracted the disease – one child, Frank Flood Jr., died sixty-one hours after admission to City Hospital; another first grader and her older sister died several years later of complications. Frankie’s twin sister, Janice, was admitted to the hospital on the evening of his burial. Diagnosed with paralytic polio, Janice recovered. She participated in the 1954 Salk vaccine trial, as one of nearly two million “Polio Pioneers.” Today, she remains dedicated to the goal of worldwide polio eradication. Twin Voices tells the story of polio, the disease, and the story of one family’s bout with the killer, in multiple “voices.”
