The March of Dimes is a well-known charity in the United States that today leads the way in genetic research funding and helping educate the public about birth defects and premature births. However, it had another purpose when it was founded many years ago. This is the story of the early years of the March of Dimes, including who founded it.
Function
The March of Dimes funds research in biochemistry, microbiology, developmental biology, pediatric medicine, genetic science, and other health-related fields. Its mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, along with premature births and infant deaths. Originally founded to find a cure for the disease called polio, it stayed intact once this was accomplished and morphed into what it currently is today, a charity based on helping babies and children.
History
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was an invalid, stricken with what was believed to be polio. He founded a charity to raise money for medical research that became known as the March of Dimes. A very popular newsreel feature of the late 1930s was called the "March of Time." Comedian Eddie Cantor, knowing that the charity had appealed to the American public to donate their dimes to the charity, used a play on words and began calling the fundraising activites the "March of Dimes." The name stuck, and it became the official name of the charity in 1979.
Time Frame
Roosevelt came down with his malady in 1921 and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. In 1938 he established what was called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to battle polio. It brought scientists together with funding from the charity to find a cure for the disease. 11 years earlier, in 1927, Roosevelt had established a non-profit foundation called the Warm Springs Foundation to find a cure. As polio instances in the U.S. kept rising, he brought the cause to the national stage. Its first big medical breakthrough came when it funded research that developed the iron lung in 1941 to aid polio patients. In 1949, the March of Dimes chose Dr. Jonas Salk to lead the fight against polio; by 1953, he had come up with a vaccine, and by 1955 it was declared to be both safe and effective. In 1962 an oral vaccine developed with March of Dimes dollars was developed by Dr. Albert Sabin. The charity has been funding cutting-edge research to help babies ever since, with many breakthroughs to its credit.
Considerations
When President Roosevelt died from a stroke in 1945, while still in office, he was honored by having his likeness placed onto the dime. It was symbolic of what he had meant to the country and to the cause of raising money to stop polio in its tracks. Previously, the dime had held the likeness of the Greek god Mercury.
Misconceptions
In August of 1921 Roosevelt came down with what was believed to be polio, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. His doctors came up with polio as the culprit, and they were experts in the disease, which was running rampant at the time. However, today's medical experts believe that Roosevelt had what is called Guillain-Barré syndrome, as his symptoms much more closely matched that paralyzing disease than polio. Roosevelt was 39 when he became paralyzed; almost all polio victims of that era were children and perhaps a few young adults around 30 years old.
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