• Author
  • Book
  • Story behind the book
  • Media Links
  • Reviews
Robert Emmett

Robert Emmett

About

~~I contracted polio at the age of nine in 1952…a few years before the vaccine. Since then I have been dealing with its after-affects and later with Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS). I went from a polio victim with about seventy-percent of my muscle architecture destroyed, as a result of the polio virus, to a competitive tennis player in fifteen arduous and challenging years. Besides my physical being, my whole make-up changed resulting in a driven and highly achieving person. I graduated in 1971 from graduate school with a PhD in Chemistry. Using my new found and crafted personality and my scientific skills, I became a leader in my business and community. During this time I went through several struggles…many painful operations and countless hours of physical therapy. Having polio was also looked upon as a defect that marked you to some extent. You could do your best and look your best but at times you were like an invisible man…endeavoring to make yourself heard and really seen.
 
Since I retired in 2001, PPS, along with lingering polio affects, has had a negative impact upon me. Nonetheless, I have funneled my energies to other pursuits (e.g. my memoir and grandchildren) I almost died a result of a staph infection in 2011…which was engendered by a fall. My contribution to eradicating polio is my life laid bare. After reading my life story no parent, spouse, doctor, family member, friend, culture or organization should not advocate taking the vaccine. In 1952 I was exposed to the winds of fate…fate should not be on the docket now. Since I had polio just before the vaccine I am one of the last members of polio victims in the USA. The lesson should be clear…don’t become another last member…end it now.

I recently published a book detailing my experience with polio and PPS. It is entitled Three Quick Steps, authored and published by me (Robert Emmett). This tells you why, with a lifetime of examples, to take the vaccine. It is not a meant to be ‘downer’…rather a balanced and meaningful message.

Ending polio is not something I will probably see. But it is in our grasp…if our education and determination is promulgated throughout the world. Nothing could be more evocative for the last polio victims that we did finish with a victory.

HALL OF SKULLS

HALL OF SKULLS

0.0
0 ratings

Description

Story Behind The Book

I was so anxiety-ridden after I retired from my job as a research director of a chemicals/minerals company that I went to see a psychiatrist. The most helpful comment she made was in the form of a question—“Why do you think you would change because you are retired?” I have a PhD in Chemistry so I took course work in astrobiology and propulsion physics…both have nothing to do with my previous job…so what! My favorite guy is Winston Churchill so I also slogged my way through his account of WW II. The above did little to relieve my anxiety. My grandchildren are now eleven and thirteen. When I was at that age I knew very little about my grandparents. I came within a day of dying in 2009 due to a staph infection…thus the impetus to write the memoir. That plus a venture to get into the winemaking business sealed the deal. I chose to center the memoir on my having contracted polio in 1952 and now post-polio syndrome and their effect on my life. Still anxious but now I have a more positive outlook. The Devil is in the Details…right? So to fill in the rest buy my memoir!

Media Links

Reviews

<p>~~It has been said that Americans have a very poor memory for history--even their own. But since history, if not actual events, seems to repeat, it is helpful to know what happened before in order to evaluate today.</p> <p>Three Quick Steps is a piece of American history that has been forgotten by many--the scourge of the polio epidemic that effected thousands before the Salk vaccine became available. Robert Emmett's story is that of one little boy and his family coping with this crippling disease--how he survived and how his family and friends dealt with this life-changing event. It is a true story of suffering and courage and bravery and love.</p> <p>Unlike Franklin Roosevelt, Robert was unable to hide his disability from the world, always trying to measure up and succeed in school, in work, and in love. Three Quick Steps is a triumph of medicine and personal determination, which continues even today. This is the story of one life, which illuminates a place and a time. Well worth the read.</p>