In the first two episodes, we listened as the Chinnery family got the bad news that two of their sons had contracted polio.  After searching the city for a hospital that would care for their most seriously ill son, George, they finally ended up at General Hospital, now known as Truman Medical Center.  The staff at General were unable to save him and George passed away overnight.  The broken hearted parents hardly had said good bye to their oldest son, when polio struck all their remaining sons  Richard was most seriously ill and George and Ardyce took their son to General Hospital. This time, thanks to the intervention of a dedicated intern Richard was given the proper care.  A Good Samaritan donated blood to help Richard as well.  The 2nd episode concluded with the story of Wytheville, Virginia, the town that had the highest per capita cases of polio in 1950.

In the first episode, we listened as the Chinnery family got the bad news that two of their sons had contracted polio.  After searching the city for a hospital that would care for their most seriously ill son, George, they finally ended up at General Hospital, now known asTruman Medical Center.  The staff at General were unable to save him and George passed away overnight.  The broken hearted parents now have the task of saying good bye to their oldest son, but polio takes no notice of such ceremonies and was poised to strike this household again.

This is the story of an ordinary family in Kansas City in the year 1942.  The father, my father, had just earned part ownership in a small, but successful manufacturing company.  The mother, my mother, took care of the home and cared for their energetic and growing family.  My father and my mother had 5 sons at the time of this story—George, age 9, Bill, age 7, Richard, age 5, Larry, age 4, and Carl. That was me.  I was just 1 year old.  My dad traveled a lot, handling sales for the company.  So, my mother was the one who was there when polio became a permanent part of my family.

A brief preview of Summit Theatre Group's new audio production, A Candle Against the Dark. 

Get a sneak peak at the new audio drama from Summit Theatre Group. Done in the style of the radio plays from the early 20th Century, A Candle Against the Dark tells the story of one family’s experience with polio in 1942. In addition, the stories of others who were affected by the disease — patients and doctors, parents and nurses — recall a time in our history when we were helpless against a seemingly invincible foe.  We hope it becomes a memorial to all those who have worked so hard to achieve near-total elimination of polio from the world.