Limping through Life: A Farm Boy's Polio Memoir
In 1947, when he was just 12 years old, the world as Apps knew it was turned upside down. A rural Wisconsin farm boy, Apps was all too familiar with the aches and twinges that came from a hard day helping his family tend livestock and crops. The searing pain that gripped his right leg one November night was unlike anything he’d felt before, however, and something that would not be eased by a few unheard of days of rest or his mother’s traditional home cures. Diagnosed with polio and saddled with a crippling limp that could limit his productive life and ability to contribute to his family’s welfare, Apps learned to cope and compensate. Frankly describing the emotional and physical challenges that were the disease’s legacy, Apps reflectively positions his subsequent academic, military, professional, and personal accomplishments within the framework of a more innocent time and place. A respected historian, environmentalist, and author (Tamarack River Ghost, 2012), Apps’ meticulous attention to detail and deep appreciation for those who helped him persevere enliven this poignant memoir. --Carol Haggas