Janice Nichols

Janice Nichols


MP3 File

 

View RSS XML Subscribe to feed  

watch the video Preview


Read interview with author on ReaderViews.com
Visit the author's website

Janice Flood Nichols is a survivor of a 1953 polio epidemic in DeWitt, NY that claimed the life of her twin brother, Frankie, and two childhood friends. 8 children in her first grade classroom of 24 contracted the disease. Though paralyzed, Janice eventually made a complete recovery. Influenced by her physical and emotional struggle, she received a BA in psychology from Seton Hill University and a MEd in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Pittsburgh (the same university where Salk and his team developed the first licensed polio vaccine). Her professional career has included positions at Community-General Hospital in Syracuse, NY and the Graduate School of Social Work at Syracuse University. She has written extensively on medical issues, polio, and twin loss.

Saddened that polio is not eradicated and fearful of a trend against vaccination, Nichols has devoted the last four years of her life researching and writing. "Twin Voices. A Memoir of Polio, the Forgotten Killer" was published in Fall ’07.  Nichols now devotes her time to spreading the message that eradication is essential and that vaccination is the only means to prevent the killer and crippler via presentations to schools, civic groups, and service organizations. Janice lives with her husband, David, in Lockport, NY. The couple has a grown son, Kevin.   

Twin Voices: A Memoir of Polio, the Forgotten Killer

Janice Flood Nichols
iUniverse (2007)
ISBN 9780595433162
Reviewed by April Sullivan for Reader Views (1/08)

Read the review on ReaderViews.com

Synopsis:

"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.”