Marian Stratford
Marian Stratford was born August 24, 1935 and raised in Brantford, Ontario on a farm on Cockshutt road. Marian's family were dairy farmers and she carried on with that tradition, remaining in Brant County throughout her life. Marian contracted paralytic polio quite suddenly at 12 years old. It was not known how or when she contracted the virus, but one day at school, in 1947, she began to feel unwell and her teacher sent her home. Marian rode her bike home on her own.
"The next morning I went to get up and I couldn't and my dad had to carry me down the steps. They took me to the Brantford General and I had this spinal tap. And I guess that clinched the fact I had polio...They sent me down to Hamilton to the polio centre and that's where I was for five months and two weeks. They told me when I got there that I'd never walk again because I was paralyzed from the waist down."
Marian with her brother. Photo courtesy of Marian Stratford.
Marian shares how her diagnosis resulted initially in little therapy. She was placed in a ward and left alone until the hospital staff discovered she could move her toes. This promoted them to use the Sister Kenny treatment on Marian, a combination of heat and muscle stretching.
"They didn't put casts on at all. Before you got the exercises, they would put you in a hot tub of water.... it didn't scald you or anything, but it was pretty close. Then they put hot packs around your body from your toes right up to your neck and then plastic went around that and then wool around that. ... it stayed on until it got cold. Then someone came along and took it off and then they exercised... by then the muscles were softened up a bit. It had to stretch the muscles back out, and it hurt but if you were determined to walk again, you let them do it."
Sister Kenny in 1950. Source: Public Domain.
The Sister Kenny Treatment was controversial to the medical community. She was not a doctor and did not have medical evidence to support her claims; however, her success aloowed it to became a common treatment with clinics opening over the United States.
Marian's original crutches from her youth. Photo courtesy of Marian Startford.
Marian spent 5 months and two weeks at the Hamilton Polio Centre. Marian's mother continued the Sister Kenny Treatment at home. Marian was able to walk with the use of crutches until just before high school. Marian's strong will and determination came from the desire and belief that she could not picture herself laying in bed or a sitting in a wheelchair.
"You either accept it and kind of try to do something about it, you can't just go around feeling sorry for yourself about everything. You got to work with it and try to get rid of it. Because if you don't, you're done. You might as well be six feet under. I don't know but that's just my attitude. But, like I'm bullheaded."
Marian in 2020. Photo courtesy of Marian Stratford.
Marian refused to allow polio to stop her life. She married at 21 to her husband of 61 years, had three children, one son and two daughters. Marian and her husband worked on their own farm and owned a store in Scotland, Ontario. She was also an administrator at Brantford Roofing for 20 years. Marian lost her husband, mother, father and sister to cancer. Today, Marian is facing post-polio syndrome and is losing leg muscle, but she still refuses to allow polio to control her life. She lives with her son and daughter in law in Oakland, Ontario.